


Slightly more Perverted Harry Potter Universe Reboot

by Artemis1990



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Public Nudity, Slavery, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:23:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1990/pseuds/Artemis1990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a story that I ALSO post at another fanfiction hosting site. What if the wizarding world is just slightly more perverted? What if Hermione met Harry before Ron did? This is story of one Harry Potter from his first year to the end. Strictly HHr. Plot driven, not sexual content driven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Introduction to Wizarding World

Chapter 1: Introduction to Wizarding World

 

Halloween 1981 – Outside of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

 

The time is obviously barely above 8 o’clock at night but the darkness that enveloped the sky above belays it, making it as if it had been much later, both due to the lack of any natural light source by the stars in the sky or the moon as well as the lack of people on the street. It is only thanks to the lines of streetlamps that prevents the darkness to descent completely unto the street.

 

Suddenly, a cracking sound can be heard against the silence as a tall figure dressed in fashion that would make any normal people reaching for their phone to call the authorities appeared out of nowhere. 

 

Perhaps it is also force of luck that prevents that to happen as this is the one day of the year which eccentric costumes are allowed to be worn in public by young and old alike with no one will ever bat an eye, after all, it is Halloween.

 

The figure walked into the light of one of the street lamps, showing that he is a man with some rather obvious signs of aging if his long white flowing beard is any indication. The man took the time to correct his thin-rimmed glasses’ position slightly before reaching into his robe pocket and pulls out a small device. He pointed the device toward the streetlamps in turn and one by one, each of them loses their light until the entire street completely descends into darkness.

 

As the last light disappears, the tall figure is approached by another; this one is very much smaller and crouching on top of the nearby fence while observing the man with its eyes glowing in the dark. The man turned toward the cat and speaks softly, “I see that you are expecting me, Minerva.”*

 

The cat jumps off of the fence as its body seem morph into something much more humanoid while in mid-air before finally completely turning into another human figure, a decidedly feminine one. The new person is what anyone will decide to be quite tall for a female but still somewhat shorter than the man before her.

 

The woman has her hair tied into a tight bun, wears a robe and slightly crooked positioned pointed hat but a closer observation will reveal that the woman look barely above mid-20s with her still smooth skin, wrinkle-less visage and the shapely figure which showed ever over her robe, at least outwardly. Her tone of voice as she spoke though showed that the woman has maturity and age beyond her looks, “I heard about it, Albus. Is that true? Is he really dead?”*

 

The man turned to the woman once again as if to answer her question when another loud sound interrupts him. Both of them turned toward the direction of the sound and see what will have others swear that it is an UFO from space, but they both knows better. 

 

Even better yet, they know what the object really is. As the sound approaches, it reveals to be a vintage motorcycle with its rider; a massive man that easily dwarfs either of them carrying a bundle in his hand.

 

the curious thing is that the motorcycle seems to be floating in the air before it finally touches down on terra firma as the rider kills the engine. The rider takes off his riding glasses as he turns toward the other two, “Good evening, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.”*

 

The two replies his greeting together before the older looking of the two steps forward toward the massive man to receive the bundle he was carrying, revealing it to be a baby boy, “Did he cause you trouble, Hagrid?”*

 

The rider, not identified as Hagrid, shakes his head side to side before answering, “No, Professor Dumbledore, sir. He sleeps the entire way, no trouble at all.” 

 

Dumbledore nods once before turning toward the doorstep of a house with a number “4” hung next to its door.

 

As if immediately understanding the man’s intention, the woman approaches the old man as she speaks with obvious concern in her voice, “Albus, you can’t.” She pauses for a moment as she throws a glance toward the baby as if drawing strength from it as she continues, “I have observed them the whole day; they are the worst kind of muggle there is.”

 

Dumbledore responds to her plea with a shake of his head as he speaks, “They are the last of his family, Minerva. He will be safe.”*

 

Once the esteemed old man placed the baby on the doorstep, the woman sees another feature of the baby and immediately raises another concern to him, “Albus, at least let Poppy take a look at him.” She points a finger toward the baby’s lightning bolt shaped scar as if trying to make a point as she continues, “Look, he has a wound on his forehead.”*

 

The aging professor shakes his head once against as he replies, “Even if I could, I won’t. Scars may come in handy in the future.” 

 

When McGonagall opens her mouth once again to complain, Dumbledore interrupts her with a gesture of his hand to shush her as he pulls out his wand and points it toward the baby to cast a few charms on it before putting it back in its holster.

 

He reaches into his pocket and removes an envelope from it which he tucks under the baby’s blanket as he whispers, “Good luck, Harry Potter.”*

 

He steps back from the baby followed by the reluctant McGonagall before joined by Hagrid. With a crack, all three vanish from the street as the streetlamps gain their light back.

 

Near midnight of July 30th , 1991 – Cottage in the middle of the sea

 

A thin boy with messy black wearing thick round glasses is sitting in the dark of his room in the little cottage in the middle of nowhere that his obese uncle, one Vernon Dursley, has taken all of their small extended family including his wife, Petunia Dursley and son, Dudley Dursley and his nephew, himself in attempt to get away from the flocks of mail carrying owls that has been targeting their home in Surrey, hopefully disheartening whoever sending them at the first place.*

 

The boy was feeling rather down in the darkness as he throws a glance toward the small alarm clock, one of the very few things that his guardians had bought for him although it was purely so that he would not be late in serving them breakfast. The glowing needles of the item are showing that it is barely half a second before midnight when the date will change from 30 to 31st, his birthday. 

 

The cause of his trepidation is the fact that while other kids would have been having the time of their lives celebrating their birthday with family and friends, probably even with a mountain of birthday presents for them to tear through, he knows that no one will be telling him happy birthday.

 

In fact, even his “family” hasn’t bothered to do so for the last 11 years and he sees no reason for the tradition to be broken this year either. Sure, they don’t abuse him physically, they don’t beat him or harm him of any kind but neither are they showing him any kindness. 

 

In fact, his uncle’s family has taken to putting him down as much as possible by telling him that he is son of a drunk driver couple who has died in a car accident after a night in the pub or calling him names and dissuading other people to interact with him by spreading story that he is mentally unstable and dangerous.

 

Thus, one Harry Potter figures that this would just be another lonely birthday. However, just as the needles strikes the number 12 together and Harry is going to give himself another lonely “Happy Birthday” he was interrupted by the thunderous sound coming from the other side of his room door.

 

Out of curiosity, he opens the door to look and he sees that someone has literally broken into the cottage. The massive man has a fur coat on him which is dripping wet unto the floor due to the heavy rain outside while the cottage front door is lying in front of him, obviously has been forcefully taken off its hinges by the same man.

 

Harry hears his uncle yelling toward the man to get out of the cottage while threatening him with a shotgun only for the man to grab it by the nozzle and bends it upward as it discharges and blows a hole on the roof. The massive man clears his throat as he speaks with a deep and rough voice… toward Dudley, “Good to see you again, Harry. You have… grown big, especially around the middle area.”*

 

Dudley nervously shakes his head as he squeaks an answer, clearly intimidated by the man’s size, “I… I am not Harry.” 

 

Harry steps out of his room and turns toward the giant as he speaks, “I am Harry… Mr….”*

 

the massive man lets out a snort as he answers, “Well, of course you are. My name is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwartss.”* The man, now identified as Hagrid, reaches into his pocket and withdraws a familiar envelope from it before giving it to Harry, “Professor Dumbledore asks me to deliver this to you.”*

 

Harry takes the envelope nervously but doesn’t open it until Hagrid told him to. He takes a while to read it before turning back to Hagrid, “Is this for real? I am admitted to….”* He looks back into the envelope before continuing, “… Hogwartss School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?”* 

 

Hagrid grins as he looks at Harry right in the eyes as he replies, “Of course, Harry. Have you ever wonder where your parents learn it all? Did you ever have something… unusual happen around you? You are a wizard, Harry. Just like your parents were.”*

 

Harry looks at Hagrid with wide disbelieving eyes as he replies back while pointing toward his scar on the forehead, “But… I was told that my parents were drunk drivers who died in a car accident which gives me this scar.”* 

 

Hagrid snorts once again before replying, “As if… your parents are great people, Harry and even better friend. They are heroes in our world.”* 

 

As he speaks, from over Harry’s shoulder, Hagrid spies that Dudley has sneaked behind Harry and currently eating the cake that the massive man has brought for Harry to celebrate his birthday, a cake that he made with his own two hand.

 

He pushed Harry aside as he pointed his umbrella toward the fat boy and a beam of light comes out of its tip before hitting Dudley right on the rear. The said boy shrieks in surprise as he feels something tear through the back of his pants and places his hand on it only to find that it is a tail, a pig tail to be exact.*

 

Both Vernon and Petunia immediately leap hysterically to help their equally hysteric son while Hagrid stands up and lowered his umbrella as he spoke to Harry, "Would appreciate it if you keep silent about that, yes? Strictly speaking, I wasn't supposed to do that." 

 

He then walks toward the door before pausing to turn back around and speaks to Harry, “Are you coming? Unless you prefer to stay here?”* Harry needs no more persuasion as he follows the man out of the door.

 

A few weeks later  - London

 

Harry is following Hagrid through the streets of London as he re-reads his letter of acceptance probably for the hundreds times since he got it about a few weeks ago, it also contain the list of items that apparently he needs to have before the school starts starting from: Plain black robe(s), cauldron, potion knife... which seems normal enough but as he goes down the list, he simply can't seem to find it possible to find them in London. Yet, this is where they are after Hagrid literally rows the entire trip from the cottage, braving the high sea for days.

 

Finally giving up on trying to make sense of it, Harry turn toward the man, “Hagrid, this things on the list… is it even possible to find these things in London?”*

 

The massive man gives the 11 years old a wide smile as he answers, “Of course they are, Harry. You just need to know where... to... look.”*

 

The massive man leads Harry into a pub in the corner of the street called ,”The Leaky Cauldron” and greets the barkeeper who immediately notices Harry, or more specifically, the scar on his forehead. 

 

The moment he does, it sends the ball rolling as every single person in the small pub turns toward him at the same time and one by one, they approaches him and gushes him with praises as if he is a superhero back from war after defeating his mortal enemy.

 

Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden attention, Harry is incredibly relieved when Hagrid finally shovels him through the pub’s backdoor into what look like a dead end. The man taps a sequence on the wall with his umbrella and the wall seem to turn alive as each of the bricks moves fluidly, revealing a crowded alley behind it. Hagrid grins at Harry’s shocked and awed expression as he speaks, “Welcome Harry… to Diagon Alley.”*

 

Hagrid proceeds to give Harry a quick tour around the magical shopping district including a visit to Gringgots to get some gold out of his vault along with a package that the headmaster of his future school wishes to be removed from another vault. The giant man also provides help for Harry in getting his school supplies including robe, wand, potion supplies, even his own familiar, a snowy white owl that he named Hedwig.

 

It was at the last stop at Flourish and Blotts to get his textbooks that Harry manage to convince Hagrid that he will be fine by himself and the giant may go back to the school. It isn’t until he gives the giant the excuse that Professor Dumbledore must be waiting for that package of his that the giant relents and leaves after extracting a promise out of him that he will be careful.

 

Once the giant leaves, Harry continues with getting his textbooks with little difficulty. Soon enough, he is holding a basket containing half a dozen books which are the prescribed textbooks he needs but he is far from satisfied. Ever since he was a child, Harry always has a fondness of reading books, not so much that he is a bookworm but because reading allows him to momentarily forget his relatives’ mental abuse.

 

The more unusual the books are, the better it is in his eyes and the bookshop has so many books that the 11 years old never even see his entire life, including some fiction and children storybooks featuring himself in adventures that simply isn’t possible considering his age and circumstances. He picks up several other books, including a copy of Hogwarts: A History and a book on wizarding custom.

 

It is when he is looking around for books when he spots someone his age who seem to be as out of it as himself. The girl has wavy light brown hair that reaches down to her shoulders and honey brown eyes but what attracts her to him is the fact that instead of wearing robes, she is wearing a T-shirt and jeans. She also has an adult woman with her with similar feature that Harry decides that she most likely be the girl’s mom and another woman that look to be in her mid-20s wearing emerald green robe.

 

For some reason, he seem to find the latter of the two women somewhat familiar but he for the life of him, he is unable to figure out why. After observing the party of 3 for a while, Harry could see that the young woman in robe is most likely the girl and her parent’s tour guide just as Hagrid was his and decide that he is better off not alerting them of his presence. Instead, he takes the books he gathered to the cashier to be checked out and paid.

 

Satisfied with how his day goes, Harry decides against going back to Privet Drive since the school will start in less than a week and he doubts that anyone will be home anyway. Instead, he goes into “Leaky Cauldron” and rents a room from Tom the barkeeper for the rest of the week. Once he retreats into his rented room, Harry climbs on the bed and immediately begins reading the books starting from Hogwarts: A History.

*Some dialogue and scene taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling


	2. Chapter 2: Hogwart Express

Inside his rented room at Leaky Cauldron, one Harry Potter has woke up early WITHOUT the help of his alarm clock for the first time in years. Without wasting time, he dive into the shower to get cleaned up and dressed himself in record time as he got ready to tackle the day. He have to admit, he is excited to attend Hogwart, mostly to finally see the castle which he had seen the picture of last night from his copy of Hogwart: A history.

 

Another part of him though is simply looking forward to a school year where he can do his best without needing to hold back just so that he won't be at the receiving end of his relative's ire for doing better than his educationally challenged cousin and hopefully make friend for once without having them chased away by the same cousin and his gang.

 

Still it took the full use of the next hour for him to do a double check on the items he need to bring to the school before going down-stair to the bar level where he need to speak with Tom to get checked out. A nice surprise greets him when the barkeeper does him a favour by casting temporary shrinking charm on most of his items, leaving just a few books and the owl cage with his familiar inside for him to carry, making it easier for him to carry with promise that they will be back to normal later that night once he settle in the dorm. Another attractive looking witch also approached him to offer another help by accompanying him to Kings Cross station and showed him how to get to platform 9 ¾ which he gratefully accept.

 

It takes the two nearly half an hour to get to King Cross station and as expected, the place is bustling with activities as adult and children alike are heading for work or school. The witch takes Harry to the direction of platform 9 when they hear a woman voice speaking loudly, "Ginny dear, do you remember the number?"* Both of them turns toward the voice to see a woman with fiery hair and her daughter that look to be about 10 who answers cheerfully, "9 ¾ !"*

 

The witch groans as she saw the woman as she turns toward Harry, "Never EVER does something like that, young Mr. Potter. That is a very foolish and dangerous thing to do on this side of the platform." Harry simply nods, he has deduced as much as Hogwart: A History and his wizarding custom book, “Basic Wizarding Law by Arkham Augustus” has mentioned that the existence of magic is a secret and have to be keep so at all cost along with severe punishment to those who breaches it including the snapping of their wand at best and loss of magic at worst.

 

The witch gives him a warm smile as she continues walking with Harry in tow, “Come then, Mr. Potter. Hogwart express is bound to depart shortly and you still need to find a compartment for yourself.”

 

The woman leads Harry to the space between platform 9 and 10 although somewhat closer to the latter than the former. The woman turns toward Harry once again although this time, she has a distinct look of giddiness on her, “Now, this is the exciting part.”

 

She points toward the third of the four pillars that separates the two platforms and gives him the instruction, “Now, what you need to do… is to walk through the barrier hidden on that wall. Only magical beings can walk through it while non-magical people will find that that stone pillar is just that. Consider it a rite of passage if you will, by walking through the barrier, it proofs that you are definitely possess magic.”

 

For the first time since their trip together, Harry throws the woman a questioning, almost accusing, look as if trying to determine if the woman is serious or just having him on.

 

The woman catches the 11 years old’s look and let out a laugh as she speaks again, “Very well, I’ll proof it to you. Look closely” she approaches the pillar and puts her hand on its surface slowly. A ripple spread through the surface of the pillar from the point of touch but she isn’t stopping.

 

In fact, she turns to look at Harry with a wide smile as she raises her feet for a step and literally disappears as she appears to be swallowed into the pillar. Only the fact that the same woman steps back out of it one minute later that convinces Harry that she was telling the truth.

 

Soon, he tries to copy the woman and places his own hand on the pillar. Sure enough, similar rippling effect appears as he feels as if he has his hand on a liquid instead of solid stone. The woman however seem to have had enough as she literally places her hand on his back and gives him a light shove along with a cheery parting word, “Just… do it!”

 

Harry feels himself stumble but manage to correct his stance as he finds that instead of hitting something solid face first or submerged into some liquid, he is standing in the middle of a standard train platform along with several dozen other people.

 

As expected, most of them are wearing robes be it those who seem to be around his age or the adults, there also quite a few of them adult and childrens alike who like him, are wearing more modern clothes such as T-shirt and jeans although just like him, most of them are not accompanied by any adult while others has one adult with them in robes.

 

He turns his gaze toward the railway and his eyes are greeted by the sight of a massive black and red steam train with the plate on its front providing its name, “Hogwart Express” and suddenly wish he has a camera to take a picture of it with him at the front as if he is in a famous tourist site.

 

Instead, the eleven years old is reduced to just staring in awe at the sight of the majestic steel carriage, very much so in fact, although he did had the opportunity to look at its picture last night but seeing it in person and full scale is just like comparing the real and authentic “Last Supper” painting to its picture off of an art book, there is simply no comparison between the two which one is superior.

 

The boy is shaken out of his thought by a long, shrill and loud whistle coming from the head of the train along with an announcement, “Departing for Hogwart in 15 minutes! Everyone aboard!”

 

On cue, Harry hurriedly boards the train before walking through the aisles to see if he can find an empty compartment left. He struck gold five minutes later when he looks through the door window of one and see that it looks completely empty, opening the door proofs it beyond doubt. He picks the corner seat next to the outer window and pulls out one of his text book to read. Although he has no intention of mastering the whole year subject during the trip, neither is he wanted his teachers’ first impression of him to be that of knowing absolutely nothing.

 

Soon, he hears the train’s whistle once again followed by the feeling of the compartment shaking slightly but not enough to disturb his reading as the train starts to move and picking up speed.

 

Probably by pure luck, the boy’s reading remains undisturbed for nearly a half an hour, a personal new record from the old one being just a little below 5 minutes before his pig of a cousin jumping on the stair step right above his “room” under the stair as he always did, with no other student joining his compartment. The first disturbance on his reading comes from the direction of the door of his compartment being knocked a few times which prompt him to raise his eyes toward it.

 

Through the door window, he spots someone with bushy light brown hair standing outside. He puts his book away and stands up to open the door to find that it is a familiar looking girl with honey brown eyes holding a dark brown medium sized trunk with both hands. Purely by instinct, Harry immediately tries to remember where he met her before when the girl clears her throat once to catch his attention before speaking softly, “I’m sorry, may I join you here? Every other place is full… and did you happen to see a toad? One of the other students lost his and I offered to help him find it. This is the last place I have to check.”*

 

Harry cannot help but grin sheepishly, almost embarrassed as he realizes that he has been standing on the door way, making it impossible for the girl to enter. He immediately steps aside while gesturing the girl to enter, “Of course you may. I’m sorry; I had been concentrating in my reading and therefore didn’t see a toad here.”

 

Once the girl steps into the compartment, he closes the door behind her before helping her with her heavier-than-it-looks trunk by putting it on the rack above them. Once they are seated across each other, Harry realize that the girl is wearing blouse and knee-length skirt which means she most likely be a new student and non-magical raised like him.

 

Harry decides that it cannot hurt to introduce himself, “Nice to meet you, my name is Harry. Harry Potter.”* Harry immediately regrets introducing himself when the girl’s eyes widened as she speaks hurriedly, “Harry Potter?! I have read about you and….”*

 

The girl immediately stops in mid-sentence when she realizes that the boy winces at the mention of her reading about him. She suddenly blushes prettily as she realizes that she has been getting over-excited and blabbering… again. The girl gives Harry a shy nervous laugh that doesn’t reach her ears as she tries to make right her blunder, “… I’m sorry… I tend to get excited about books.” She clears her throat once again before reaching out her hand for a shake with a disarming smile, “My name is Hermione, Granger by the way.”*

 

Harry smiles genuinely at the girl as he accepts her offered hand, “Don’t worry, I am the same sometimes.” He points toward the pile of books next to him to emphasize his point before continuing with a slight wince, “… it’s just… well… those books of me that you were talking about….” He looks at the girl in the eyes with complete seriousness, “… Well, they are just loads of rubbish; at least most of them are… I mean….”

 

He leans back on his seat and puts his hands across his chest as he speaks, “… I never meet a glittery vampire and certainly have no desire to meet one yet; I am NOT an expert dancer, if anything, I’m probably the worst dancer you will ever have the misfortune of knowing; and I certainly have no idea how I can be at the top of Witch Weekly’s “hottest bachelor” list at 11 years old… though that one, I’m not complaining much about.”

 

The boy finishes the last sentence with a grin and a wink toward the girl who by now is openly giggling as the tension between them break, crash and burn at his joke.

 

Soon, the two starts to really get to know each other better, especially when they finds out that they are fellow book lovers. From there, the discussion turns into more books related such as who their favourite authors are, what their favourite books are and so on. From books, their discussion then turn into more study related such as what subjects they have read in advance, which one is the most interesting and such.

 

Their conversation is interrupted by another knock on their door before it is opened by an older male student with flaming red hair, “We will arrive shortly, I suggest you two changes into your robes.” The two new students nods their head at the same time in affirmative before the young man closes the door back and walks away.

 

Harry turns back to his new female friend and nods as he moves to stand up, “Well, you may get changed first. I’ll watch the aisles to make sure no one is peeping on you.” He pauses when Hermione shoots him with a confused look and his eyes widen at the unasked question, “Wait, you didn’t know?”

 

the brown haired girl tilts her head slightly as if asking, “About what?” The male of the two immediately blush deep red as he answers her unasked inquiry, “Robes are to be worn with nothing underneath, at least that is the case if you are 15 years old or older; since we are both under the required age, we are ALLOWED to wear underwear underneath but just that.” As expected, Harry sees that Hermione’s mouth is wide open, so is her eyes as she looks at him in disbelief.

 

The girl’s jaws gives a “click” sound as the girl realizes that her mouth was hanging before speaking again in all seriousness, “Surely you jest, I mean….” The girl’s sentence is cut off in the middle for the second time that day, but this time the cause is the book that Harry has opened to a specific page and showed the girl the specific line on the page. She grabs the book and proceeds to check the title before finally slumping in defeat as she reads the title: “Basic Wizarding Law by Arkham Augustus”

 

Deciding to give the girl some time alone to get her head around the implication of the law and get changed, Harry rises from his seat and walks out the compartment before shutting it close behind him and stands guard in front of it. A few minutes later, he can hear the sound of the compartment window screens dragged close to hide the occupant inside which he deduce as the sign that Hermione has finally succumb to the law and bite the bullet, faster than he expected her to, to be honest.

 

A knock from inside 10 minutes later tells him that Hermione has finished changing and now it is his turn to bite the bullet while she stands guard for him. Another 10 minutes and knocking sound from the inside of the compartment, Hermione re-joins her new friend inside.

 

Once the brown haired girl sits back on her seat with the black haired boy across her, a different awkwardness from before descents between them as they both aware that the other most likely wears very little underneath the airy and light black robe.

 

Hermione finally had enough of the tension as she stands up and puts her hands on her hips as she raves, “Oh, for Christ’s sake, this is ridiculous! Who cares if we are in out boxers and knickers? We are wizards and witches; weird is part of the job.” 

 

Harry cannot help but smile at her declaration, the girl got spunk, that’s for damn sure. The tension soon relaxed itself as the two 11 years old delves themselves back to the conversation where they left of, Hogwart is only an hour away left.

*Some scenes and dialogues taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling


	3. Chapter 3: Hogwart, the first impression

Chapter 3: Hogwarts, the first impression

 

Harry has to admit, the trip in Hogwarts express has gone rather well except for the awkwardness between him and Hermione regarding the dress code which the latter shot down soon after. The only other sour note that happens within the last hour of the trip was that several other students, most of them seem to be of the years above them who keep knocking on the door and asking if there is a “Harry Potter” among them.

 

Most of them were has been polite enough to merely wanting to meet him and congratulate him on entering Hogwarts, some of them even wish him luck on the sorting. Some of them however, was rather rude, especially one boy with bright red hair and freckles on his face who seem to find it okay to speak while munching and holding a muffin in one hand with a chocolate frog on the other much to the disgust of the two.

 

Since then, Harry immediately develops a distinct dislike on his yet-unexplained-why popularity which if Hermione’s slight scowl of being interrupted so many times, so is she. When another student with pale blonde hair, which Hermione seem to think that the boy had used glue instead of hair gel to style it, opened their door without knocking while bracketed by two other male students that Harry nearly mistaken to be Dudley’s clones.Harry finally have had enough as he hears the boy speaks the much overused opening phrase of, "I heard Harry Potter is on this train...."*

 

He immediately puts the rude boy back in his place by standing up and speaks a short sentence of, "Never heard of him." Before slamming the door back close and locked it. Hermione's amused giggle at the blonde's shocked expression through the window tells Harry that she approves of his method of dealing with his fan-wannabe. 

 

Ignoring the blonde boy’s impotent anger outside of the door, Harry takes his seat back and leans back to the couch with exasperated expression much to the amusement of his female companion.

 

With half an hour left on the trip, Harry being the one of the two who has his seat facing the front of the train picks himself up as he leans toward the window as his eyes widen and a grin appears on his lips, earning himself a curious look from Hermione as she asks, “What is it, Harry?”

 

The boy leaning on the window turns to her excitedly as he answers, “We nearly arrives, I can see the village.” 

 

This time the brunette’s eyes got wide as she turns her body so that she can see out of the window and sure enough, under the starry sky of early winter evening, both tweens can see the “village” that is actually more of a small “town” on the edge of a cliff in the distance, they can even make out the many chimneys and dots of lights from the windows, easily numbering in several dozens, surely bigger and busier than villages normally are.

 

 Right on the dot, the train pulled into the village’s one and only train station. Both Harry and Hermione though are the first one to disembark before any of the others as their excitement allows the two bright 11 years old to prepare to disembark much earlier thus giving them the privilege to exit their compartment into the platform while the other students are still busy taking out their trunks of the storage.

 

They hears a coarse but strong voice calling for first years and immediately go toward its source. A wide genuine smile appears on Harry’s face as he spots the familiar giant of a man and raises his walking pace, nearly into a run as he literally gives the man a huge hug, “Hagrid!! It’s good to see you again.”* 

 

Hagrid himself lets out a loud boisterous laugh as he returns the boy’s hug and replies with his own greeting before he realize the girl standing just a few steps off the boy.Hagrid reaches out his hand to her and smiles as he introduces himself, “Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Ground of Hogwarts. Are you a friend of Harry?”

 

Hermione tentatively steps forward but look rather nervous to grab the offered hand, not that Hagrid will fault her for it. He knows from enough previous experience that his size can make him look rather intimidating to some people, especially children. 

 

A look and nod from Harry though, finally gives the girl the conviction and courage to grab the massive hand as she replies politely, “Hermione Granger, it is nice to see you too, Mr. Hagrid. Harry and I met in the train. I hope I am not being too presumptuous to consider Harry a friend?”

 

This time it is Harry who answers her although his joking tone immediately takes out the barb on his words, “I sure won’t bloody mind, Ms. Granger. If you allow me one non-negotiable condition: You have to allow me to consider you a friend too.”

 

Without missing a beat, Hermione gives the boy a smirk of her own as she flips her hair flamboyantly as she answers, “Why, Mr. Potter. I will have to think about that offer first. Afterall, we are but 11 years old.”

 

Hagrid finally cannot hold his laughter anymore at the two first year’s antics and lets out a loud belly shaking laugh which prompts the other two children to follows it up with one of their own. Hermione is the first one to regain control of her laughter before realizing that the rest of the students have disembarked behind them if the sound of whisperings is any indication. 

 

The other two takes a little bit longer than her but they too soon comes to the same conclusion and Hagrid needs to go back to his work but not before offering the two to join his boat which they gratefully accepts.

 

The two lets Hagrid put the other first years on boats with strict warning that there shouldn’t be more than 4 students at once in a boat. It takes the man over 20 minutes before he finally turns back to them and says, “Well, come on you two. Wouldn’t want to be late to the sorting, aye?” 

 

Harry and Hermione follows the giant to the last one empty boat which they suspect because Hagrid will take two people’s space by himself, leaving room only for another two.

 

Hagrid helps Hermione on-board first with a half-joking, “Ladies first.” before turning back to Harry. Instead of grabbing him straight away though, he reaches under his coat and removes a large worn-out but obviously still in quite good condition leather-covered tome before handing it to Harry, “I mean to give you this when we were shopping. This is from my personal collection but I think you may treasure it more than I do.”*

 

Out of curiosity, Harry opens the tome and immediately nearly drops it when he sees the content. He turns his gaze to Hagrid with eyes full of emotion as he speaks with slight choking, “Hagrid… I… I don’t know how to thank you… This is… Incredible….”*

 

The massive man’s expression soften as he reaches out and hugs the boy gently, “Its okay, Harry. They are fine people and this is the least I can do for you.”

 

He the lifts the boy and puts him securely inside the boat when Hermione sees her new friend’s thinly concealed tears and asks, “What’s wrong Harry? What is in that book?”

 

With still choking voice, Harry gives the girl the answer that explains everything in its simplicity, “Photos of my parents.” For once in her life, Hermione Granger doesn’t require further explanation.

 

The boat treks silently through the water until Hagrid told them to be quite because he has a surprise for all of them. Once by one, each of the boats grows silent before Hagrid continues speaking, “Now… the lights will be out for a while but I have to stress you to be calm. Do not make sudden move or standing up ‘less you will fall into the lake. You do NOT want that.”

 

As soon as he said it, one by one, the lantern hung on each boat dies until everything around them is turning pitch black… NOT. Gasps can be heard from every single first year students as they marvel the unparalleled and unbeatable beauty of nature around them. 

 

With the lights on every boat are out, the starry sky above is being reflected completely by the lake, creating a perfect optical illusion as if their boats are cruising through the stars.

 

Finally, as if it comes straight out of a fairy tale, the majestic castle makes its appearance as the boats made a turn.* With the lights on every window of the castle as if there is a grand party being held inside, it is truly a beauty unparalleled by anything any of them has ever seen in their life.

 

Soon, the boats reached the shore of the lake and one by one, each of them are vacated by its occupant before Hagrid leads them to the stairs main gate of the castle. As they close in toward the stairs, Harry sees a figure standing at the top of it. It isn’t until they reaches right at the bottom of the stairs though that he recognizes the figure to be the slightly-familiar witch that he saw giving Hermione and her mother a tour at Diagon Alley a week ago.

 

Even now, Harry determines that the woman appears to look barely above her mid-20s and quite attractive but another part of him tells that she isn’t someone to be trifled with; the tense and serious expression etched on her face tells that fact even better than the tight bun she put her hair in.

 

Hagrid leads the first years until the party reaches the middle landing before turning to the woman, “Professor McGonagall, I brings you the first years.”*

 

The woman is going to return the greeting when another voice interrupts her, “Trevor!”*

 

Everyone turns toward the source of the interruption and sees a pudgy first year stepping out of the group as he scoops a toad from the stair landing right in front of McGonagall before sheepishly walking back into the group at the formidable woman’s piercing gaze*.

 

McGonagall clears her throat before turning back to Hagrid, “Thank you, Mr. Hagrid.”* She turns toward the first years before continuing, “Welcome to Hogwarts all of you. My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmaster and Transfiguration Professor of this school. I am here to inform you that soon, each of you will be sorted into one of the four houses. While you are in Hogwarts, your house will be your family; you will go to class with them, study with them, eats with them and spend your free time with them in your house common room. Impeccable conducts will earn your house points while poor ones will take them away. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points will be rewarded the house cup. Now, wait here for a while as we prepare for the sorting.”*

 

Once the woman disappears behind the main door, presumably to tell the headmaster that the first students have arrived and ready to be sorted, Harry hears a familiar sounding person speaking loudly with a think arrogant undertone to his voice, “Well well, so it IS true… Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts at last*”

 

Harry turns around to face the person and nearly groans as he spots the rude blonde with hair which look like it will take a saw to trim it that he had snuffed in the train*. This time though, the blonde seem to already know who he is as he approaches him straight away, “Sorry, I failed to introduce myself in the train earlier. My name is Draco Malfoy and you will find that some family are better than the others, you do NOT want to cross the wrong sort of people. I can help you there.”*

 

As the blonde offers Harry his hand for a shake, Malfoy throws a sneer toward Hermione who is standing right over Harry’s shoulder but that is enough for Harry to make his decision as he speaks coldly, “Mr. Malfoy, I thank you for your offer but I assure you that I fully capable of managing my social life myself… the question is, can you?”*

 

Draco’s cocky smirk disappears from his expression faster than anyone can say his family name and he look to be ready to speak once again but the sound of the door opening tells them that McGonagall has come back to fetch them and even Draco isn’t stupid enough to get into a fight before the stern woman especially before his first the school day even start.*

 

The first years follows Professor McGonagall pass the main door into the great hall and the “ooh”s and “aah”s soon makes their appearance once again as the new students marvels the massive hall, even Harry and Hermione who has seen them in pictures are impressed by it.*

 

A sound of clearing throat from in front of them immediately moves their gaze to the source, a beat up pointy hat placed on a stool. The hat suddenly opens its “mouth” once again and starts to sing a song which prompts several of the students, mostly muggleborns to cringe at the atrociously poor attempt of singing by a supposedly non-sentient item.*

 

Once the song is done, McGonagall unrolled a long parchment and clears her throat as she begins to call the names alphabetically according to their family name starting from one Hannah Abbott.* Harry actually pays attention on who is to which house, mostly because they are his classmates and therefore, knowing their name can only be a good thing. 

 

Still, only a few names actually of interest to him, Granger and Malfoy in particular, the former because he wants to be in the same house as her and the latter because he doesn’t want to. It helps too that his name actually appears AFTER either of them, a blessing in disguise it seemed.

 

When Hermione is finally called, Harry takes the time to give her hand a gentle squish of encouragement which he knows she appreciates. As she sits on the stool and McGonagall places the hat on her, Harry immediately pays attention to what the hat has to say about his friend. 

 

The hat’s crack opens up as he speaks, “Hmm… interesting… Very ambitious to a cause you believe it… A bright mind rarely seen… Courage to do what is necessary… you can fit in all of them but… it is your loyalty that makes you stand out. Your drive to stand for what you believe to be right regardless of anything that stands in your way, you shall be stronger as… HUFFLEPUFF!!” As the others before her, a polite applause follows as she joins the table to her left where Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones has been sorted.

 

It takes a while before Malfoy’s name comes up but this time the sorting hat barely touches his head before it shouts, “SLYTHERIN!!”* The blonde joins his house with a wide grin on his face which just made Harry even more determined NOT to ends up in the same house as him.

 

Finally, Harry’s name comes up and as he walks toward the stool, he can hear EVERYONE whispering to each other about him from “I thought he’d be taller….” To “He’s kind of cute….”* Even Professor Dumbledore he notices suddenly sits a little bit straighter on his throne.* Deciding that it’s better to get the sorting out done and done with as soon as possible, Harry quicken his pace until he sits on the stool.

 

The hat soon is placed on his head and it begins to speak, “Difficult… VERY difficult… Not a bad mind… Plenty of courage… Loyalty like no other… And cunning enough to get what you want…Now… what to do with you...”*

 

Harry immediately pales at the possibility of being sorted into the same house as Draco and immediately starts whispering, “Not with Malfoy… anything but that….”

 

The hat seem to ponders as it speaks again, “Are you sure… You can be great in Slytherin… Fame and glory it can get you…”*

 

This time, Harry visibly winces as he replies, “I have enough of fame and glory… I just want to be myself.” 

 

Harry feels the hat seemingly “Smiles” as it finally make a decision, “Well… Not Slytherin then it better be… HUFFLEPUFF!!”*

 

This time the entire Hufflepuff table cheers out loud, some of the older students even raises their fists in the air in celebration as Harry goes to join Hermione on the table. Meanwhile, the rest of the tables sighs dejectedly, even Dumbledore look visibly shocked at the result. The cheering and sighs went into a screeching halt when a voice can be heard across the hall, “IMPOSSIBLE!! HARRY POTTER IS A DUFFER?!!”

 

Everyone in the room suddenly turns silent, so silent that one can hear their own breath as all of their eyes turn toward the person who has spoken the “blasphemy”.

 

A red haired boy emerged from the remaining first years contingent, obviously completely oblivious of the bloodlust which is starting to emerge from every single person in the room, especially the Hufflepuffs. This asshole has the gall to insult not only their national hero but also the entire house within one sentence, quite an achievement that even Malfoy or the Weasley twins would be hard pressed to match EVER. 

 

The red haired boy however is far from finished as he pour oil into the fire, “HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GRIFFINDOR!! NOT IN THE HOUSE OF DUFFERS!! THAT HAT IS JUST A PIECE OF JUNK!!”

 

By now, Harry just couldn’t do anything other than staring at the red haired clown with open mouth as it sinks in to him that the boy has manage to up the ante of stupidity by going from pissing of one of the house to pissing of the ENTIRE school, a full 288 people consisting of students and professors and, if his reading of "Hogwarts a History" is acurate, it is still not including the paintings and other sentient beings in the castle, truly a record that he seriously doubt will EVER be broken in the future.

 

Finally, a plump woman who seemed to be in her mid 20s or early 30s stands up from her seat on the head table as she speaks, “You, young man… has earns yourself a week detention with me regardless of where you are sorted. My name is Professor Sprout and I am the head of the house you have just insulted TWICE!!” the normally patient and gentle professor raises 2 fingers as she spoke the last word  with blazing eyes as if to emphasize just how much trouble the boy is in.

 

The boy proofs that he isn’t completely thick by finally getting the idea and walks back meekly back to the rest of unsorted first years… only to find that he has just got his name magically raised up in the list making him to be the next person to be sorted, one Ronald Billius Weasley. 

 

As he sits on the stool, he can literally feel every eye on him which is actually a fact as every single student in the school wish that he isn’t sorted into their house. Still one quarter of them has to lose as the sorting hat shouts, “GRIFFINDOR!!”*

 

As if to completely mirror the previous sorting, this time the entire school bar the Griffindor house cheers out loud while the students on the selected table groans at the unwanted addition to their house.

 

Since then, the rest of the sorting goes without a hitch until the last student, Blaise Zabini is sorted into Slytherin.

 

The old headmaster rises from his seat and addresses the students, “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we start, there are a few announcements to tell: Mr. Filch informs me that the forbidden forest is not to be entered by students, list of banned items can be found attached to his office door, and the third floor corridor is dangerous off limit if none of you wish to experience a most horrible death”*

 

The old man lets the news to sink in for a while before turning back to joviality, “Well, that all for tonight. Enjoy the feast.”* Soon, the tables are filled by dozens of plates containing dishes as the students and staffs alike are having their slightly late dinner. During the feasts, introductions are exchanged and casual conversations are made, probably even friendship that may last for a long time. The students are also given the chance to meet their house ghosts.*

 

After the feast, the prefects lead the first year students to their common room, explains the method of access and splitting them to their separate own dorms separated by gender. Harry immediately unloads his shrank belongings before changing into his sleepwear and tucks in for the night. A small smile appears on his lips as his last thought before losing himself to the sandman is, “Finally, I find where I belong….”

 

 

 

*Some scenes and dialogues taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling

 

 

AN: Some of you might wonder why I put Hermione and Harry in Hufflepuff. The reason is both simple and complicated for me. Its simple for me to decide because I am tired of Harry keep going to any other houses EXCEPT Hufflepuff if any of the fanfics I ever read so wala, there you go, a Hufflepuff Harry. It is also complicated as if there is one thing about Hermione that stands out to me, it is NOT her brilliance or genius, but for me, it is truly her Loyalty that endears her to me. She is literally the most loyal character to Harry even more than Dumbledore or Ron, probably second only to Harry's parents and Sirius. Harry himself is also an incredibly loyal individual so I don't see why they cannot be a Hufflepuff.


	4. Chapter 4: First lessons, Never judge a book by its cover

A black haired boy opens his eyes as he lays on one of the bed in the Hufflepuff boys dorm and pushes himself to sitting position as he reaches for his glasses that he has left on the his bedside table before putting them on. He looks around the room and notices that everyone else in the room still has their mosquito net down which means that they are still blissfully in their dreamlands although he determines that most of them will wake up soon enough.

 

A look out of the dorm window allows him to see that the sun hasn’t risen over the horizon but if the lightening of the sky is to be judged, it will be soon which means currently, it must be around 4 or 5 o clock in the morning, breakfast will be served in the great hall at 7 and the first class won’t start until 9.

 

Deciding that there is no need to hurry, Harry takes the time to remember each of his dorm-mates and their personality. Sleeping directly on his left is Ernie Macmillan, a somewhat snobbish pureblood but not in the way that is overly rude or condescending, if Harry is to compare it, he acts rather aristocratic but overall he is actually quite nice enough to give some pointers to him at how pureblood views their society in general, especially regarding half-bloods and muggleborns, he even complimented how Harry handled Malfoy’s thinly veiled attempt to curry favour of him.

 

Being on the second to the furthest left bed in the room, Harry has no choice but to look at the other side of his bed to find the other occupants. His eyes rested on the bed directly on his right and remembers that it belongs to a muggleborn Justin Finch-Fletchley, an outgoing and friendly guy if not quite a bit of a loudmouth though Harry deems that it probably mostly due to him being nervous as he is apparently as lost as Harry is when it comes to the wizarding world.

 

The next person next to Justin is a Half-blood named Wayne Hopkins which Harry has to admit lacks the information about him as the guy remains mostly silent during the sorting feast other than telling that his mother was a witch but nothing else.

 

Finally, he finds the last bed in the room and a frown appears on Harry’s visage, Zacharias Smith is an ass, plain and simple, the guy has an ego the size of Jupiter and selfishness to match, that much is plain to see during the sorting feast when he immediately start hitting on Hermione, Hannah and Susan the moment it starts until he learns that two of the girls being a muggleborn and half-blood respectively before he switch from nice and charming to harassing them until a third year named Cedric put a stop on it.

 

It puzzles Harry how the guy could end up as a Hufflepuff when he shows very little trait of the house at least outwardly.

 

Harry let out a sigh as he is quickly running out of things to interest himself inside the dorm room and since he is already wide awake, he doubts going back to sleep is possible either. Faced with little other choice, he pushes his blanket away and climbs down from his bed. He stretches a few times to get his muscles back to work after the stiffness of sleeping at night causes them before going to his trunk to get his towel, robe and toiletries.

 

Having seen and used it last night, Harry knows that there is no separator between each shower and with no one else in the boy’s shower room, Harry decides that he can have a little harmless fun as he turns on all of the showers on alternating between cold and hot on each of them before standing back with a wide grin on his face.

 

He takes a deep breath as he approaches the first shower and greeted by cold water which has the effect of ridding him of what remains of his sleepiness. Instead of stopping, he continues his trek slowly to the next one and a hot water washes his body, effectively ridding the cold feeling from the previous one. The effect repeats itself as the boy walks through each shower; he even starts to skip a little as he approaches the last ones in the row.

 

He goes back and forth a few times before finally turning off all of them except one which he manipulate the temperature to be just right and starts washing himself. Harry emerges from the shower room one hour later back into the dorm room wearing his robe with just a boxers and undershirt underneath since he is still feeling rather uncertain to be going commando. Besides, since he is still below 15 and technically allowed to have underwears below the drafty fabric, the school should let him off with this.

 

After placing his belongings back into its place and things to be washed into the bin provided, Harry decides to go into the Hufflepuff common room to see if anyone else other than him are already awake. He walks down a short set of stairs and pushes what look to be a perfectly circular door outward before stepping out of it to find himself standing in the house common room coloured in black and yellow.

 

Even the couch has the same colour theme with the cushion alternating between black and yellow which makes the boy think of a honeybee. Speaking of “honey”, Harry spots a familiar someone with dark honey coloured hair sitting on one of the armchair adjacent to the couch with her eyes in a massive book hold in her hand.

 

In fact, the book is so big that it literally covers her entire face which Harry cannot help but find to be very amusing as he lets out a snicker. The girl notices the sound and immediately lowers the book to see the source as she speaks with a bright smile, “Morning, Harry. You rise rather early; did you have a good night sleep?”

 

Harry stops his snicker but keeps his smile as he approaches the girl and takes a seat across her, “Morning, Hermione. Like you’re one to comment about being an early bird when you obvious have risen earlier than I do; I did sleep very well last night, probably even the best sleep I ever have in my life, what about you?”

 

Hermione puts her book on the table but keeps it open as she replies, “I slept well enough I guess…. I guess I am just excited at having our first day in school of magic. Still trying to wrap my head around it, you know.” Harry nods at her answer; he can understand that as if he is to be honest, so is he.

 

It’s not that he likes to study but he is still excited to see what Hogwart has to offer compared to muggle school and by the looks of it, plenty. He turns his gaze toward the massive book that his friend has in her hand and asks, “By the way, what have you been reading? I don’t think this is in our school year syllabus.”

 

He grabs the book’s cover and flips it so that he can read the title before putting it back down and turns toward the girl with curious expression, “Complete and official guide to wizarding fashion by Wilhelmina Wilken? Why would you want to know it?”

 

Harry’s puzzlement is due to the fact that according to their conversation during their train trip the previous day, fashion is one of the few things that Hermione has confessed to not paying much attention to. Sure, she wears clothes according to the season and whatnot but she never actually goes out of her way to purchase something that she doesn’t need like a pretty dress or fashionable shoes. She simply has no interest in them… until now it seems.

 

Hermione blushes as she answers her first male friend other than her father, “I am curious on why our dress code is as they are. I mean… wearing nothing but robes just feels… I don’t know… embarrassing… I guess. I just feel so... exposed." Harry nods at the girl, he can understand that easily.

 

Hell, he has an undershirt and boxer on and he still feel exposed much less.... Suddenly something that the girl told him shot to the front of his thought. His eyes widen as wide as saucers as he snaps his head to the girl's direction in disbelive, "Hermione... Are you telling me that you...?"

 

The 11 years old muggleborn blushes bright red as she realizes what she has unconsciously implies to her friend and what he is asking about. She immediately grabs the book and raises it to cover her face before lowering it slightly so that only her eyes are visible before nodding as she speaks, “Well… I just think that if we have to do it later anyway, then isn’t that better to try and get used to it earlier?”

 

Harry can certainly understand her point and heart-fully agree with it as he too has plan as such but apparently he and Hermione has extremely different definition of “early”. What constitute as “early” for him in this case is starting somewhere in the fourth year, probably even a little in the end of third year where some of his fellow muggleborn and half-blood friends will no doubt already starting it for being 15 years old, not in the second day of first year before they even start having class. It just dawns on his just how daring his new friend is behind her bookworm attitude.

 

The bespectacled boy is going to comment about it when they hears the door leading to the boy’s dorm is opened from the other end and a familiar handsome older male student, Cedric Diggory steps out of it before greeting them “good morning”. Harry replies the older student with equally polite greeting but Hermione’s immediately makes the so called boy-who-lived snickers as the girl is blushing bright red and stammers her own greeting before trying to thank the older boy for his help in stopping Zacharias Smith last night probably for the dozenth times.

 

Harry's snigger isn’t lost to the girl with a developing crush on the third year as evident by the glare that she is shooting toward him which just made the black-haired boy snigger even harder knowing that with the object of her crush present, she cannot really do anything else to him except for that. Once his laughter subsides, Harry decides to strike a conversation with Cedric, mostly about Quidditch as the latter apparently is the reserve seeker for their house team and seemingly ready to take on the mantle next year after their current seeker, a seventh year graduates.

 

Harry himself is actually more interested on how the game involves flying on a broom and the technicalities involved with the action. Afterall, he has grown up amongst muggles and if there is one thing other than magic that any muggle kids associate with witches and wizards, it is their flying magic brooms. 

 

During the course of the conversation, several other students, male and female alike, has emerged from the dorms but only a few actually stays in the common room while most of them has left for the great hall for breakfast. Cedric proceeds to offer to accompany both Harry and Hermione to the great hall for breakfast which they both accepted.

 

During breakfast, Professor Sprout approaches their house table to hand the first years them timetables when Hermione inquires about their class being shared with students from other houses. The chubby looking professor clears her throat once before replying to her, “Your classes are purposely set up as such to promote relation and unity between houses. Of course, I will still expect all of you to behave in the way that will NOT shame our house or I will be angry. Trust me, you won’t like me when I’m angry, do I make myself clear?”

 

The chorus of pirate-like answer, “Aye aye, madame.” from the entire table earns them a wide smile from their head of house as she finishes handing out the schedules and walks back to the staff table. As the good professor walks away, the first years immediately puts their attention to their schedule with the help of some of the older students when Cedric suddenly put his hand around Harry’s shoulder and winches, “I am really starting to feel sorry for you, Harry. You have my condolence….”

 

Both Harry and Hermione shoot the third year with questioning look which prompts him to explain. Cedric points toward their first lesson of the day which says “Potion” before continuing, “Potion is taught by Professor Snape…” He points using his eyes toward the far left end of the staff table where the two finds a man with shoulder-length black hair and crooked nose sitting there before continuing again, “… He is the head of house for Slytherin and known to be rather sour toward everyone except for his own house.”

 

Hermione rolls her eyes as she turns back to Cedric, “Come now, Cedric. Surely you’re exaggerating; the man is a teacher afterall….”

 

Cedric gives her a sigh of exasperation as he replies, “I wish I am… you can ask anyone from other houses except for Slytherin if you don’t believe me.” This time, Hermione and Harry share a look with each other before shrugging at the same time and goes back to their food. Class will start in one hour and they still need to find the classroom first before they can even meet the man in class and the last thing either of them wants is to be late for their first class.

 

Exactly one hour later, Harry and Hermione are sitting in a class with their fellow hufflepuffs and Raveclaw first years when the door of the classroom is opened once again and the male professor from before enters and walks straight to the front of the class before speaking to them, "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."*

 

The professor turned toward Harry with a sharp gaze as he speaks, “Mr. Harry Potter… Our new… celebrity…." He cleared his throat once before continuing, “Tell me, Mr. Potter. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"*

 

Harry takes a while to concentrate before answering, ”With just that ingredients professor, I’m afraid the answer would be “nothing” but if we add several additional substance such as valerian roots and Sopophorous bean, with the correct method of brewing, I believe we can create a potion called “Draught of Living Dead”. "

 

Snape sneers before continuing with another question, "Where would you look if I asked you to find me a Bezoar?"* Harry concentrates once again before answering, “I believe that “Bezoar” is a stone-like substance that can be found in the stomach of a goat. The textbook mentions that it can work as emergency antidote to most poison.”

 

Finally, Snape asks once again, "And what is the difference between monkshood and Wolfsbane?"* This time Harry doesn’t even need to think as he answers, “Nothing sir, they are the same plant and also known as Aconite. The different names are just to make it easier to determine which potion the brewer is brewing.”

 

Snape’s expression remains impasse as he turns to the rest of the class, “Well, why aren’t you writing it down?!” which sends the rest of the students to scramble and start writing down the bits of knowledge while the professor turns around and continues his trek down the stair until he reaches the board and enchants s chalk to start writing instructions on it.

 

Professor Snape looks back on the class and says once again, "Instructions are on the board, get to it." As the students are brewing, he walks around the classroom to observe them but remains silent, neither complimenting, correcting or even critiquing their work though Harry thinks that the man seem to hover around him more often than the others and seem to has a permanent sneer etched on his face every time he looks into his cauldron.

 

One of the Hufflepuff on the back accidentally spilled too much of one of the ingredients into his cauldron, causing it to start emitting blue smoke which the Professor immediately waves his wand toward it and vanish the entire content before speaking, “Foolish child!! 50 points from Hufflepuff!!” 

 

Unfortunately, the professor has been shouting right next to Harry when he is cutting his valerian root for the sleeping potion they are making causing him to miss slightly in his cut making it slightly smaller than the rest. Snape immediately turns to him and sneers, "Another 50 points from Hufflepuff!! It seem that just because you read ahead doesn't make you able to brew a simple potion eh, Potter?"

 

He then leans over him to look at his remaining ingredient before continuing, "It seem like you are ALSO running out of ingredient. Stay back after class, Potter and we will talk if you are to be allowed to continue in this class without endangering everyone with your..." Another sneer from the professor as he continues, "... Abysmal skill."

 

Just as he finishes speaking, the bell signalling end of class resounds and the rest of the students starts cleaning up their tables before starting to walk out of the classroom door, the Hufflepuffs visible upset and dejected at losing so much points in their first class. Harry notices that Hermione is shooting him a worried glance before Hannah Abbot pulls her by the arm. Harry cannot help but feels a little bit happy that someone actually cares of his wellbeing.

 

Once the last of the students walks past the door, snape waves his wand toward the door as it closes with a slam followed by several yelping sound of students who obviously has been trying to listen in from the other side of the door. The professor's wand swishes again a few times toward the door as he applies locking charm and privacy charm before finally putting his wand back to its holster as he walks toward the teacher table and sits behind it.

 

Snape then lets out a long sigh before turning back to Harry, "Take a seat, Harry." Harry raises his eyebrow slightly as he notices that the professor's tone no longer carry condescending or even unfriendly, almost gentle in fact although still quite authorative, not to mention that the man has used his given name instead of his family name. Unsure of what to think about the sudden change, Harry decides to follow the instruction and sits on one of the front row desk but remains silent as he waits for the man's next move.

 

He doesn't need to wait for long as the professor looks at him right in the eyes and gives him a tiny smile or at least what look to supposed to be one as the only change in the man’s expression is the slight raise of the corner of his lips as he speaks again although his tone is definitely much friendlier now, “You really do look like your father at your age, although your eyes definitely come from your mother’s.” A knock on the door signals the arrival of another person.

 

Snape swishes his wand toward the door once again to temporarily disable the locking charm and allows the person to enter. The door opens to reveal the beautiful woman that is the deputy headmistress of the school who enters before quickly closing the door behind her and allows Snape to reapplies the locking charm. The young looking woman walks down the stair while Harry is following her every step in confusion until she speaks to the man, “Sorry I was late, the youngest Weasley has somehow manage to cause a small fire incident with the match that he was supposed to turn into a needle. I also found Ms. Granger waiting outside the door as she tries to listen in by sticking her ear on the door. I told her to get to her next class with Fillius, she’s gone now.” 

 

The woman takes a seat on the desk to Harry’s left on the other side of the stair with her legs crossed elegantly before continuing, “So Severus, have you told him anything?” The potion professor waves his hand before replying, “Nothing yet,Minerva. I was thinking of waiting for you to arrive before filling him in to make sure we won’t miss anything important.”

 

Minerva McGonagall nods in acceptance to his reason before turning to Harry with a kind smile, “Don’t worry, Harry. You are NOT in trouble; if anything, you are here so we can get you out of the trouble you will be in, probably even answer a few of your questions.”

 

Harry nods his head but remains silent, unsure of what to say or do nor what they mean by “trouble”. Seeing that the young first year is confused, Severus Snape clears his throat, “I guess an apology will be a good start….” He gives Harry a slight bow before continuing, “I’m sorry for taking points of you and put the impression of picking on you, Harry. It was necessary but I’m sorry nonetheless, as for the points… don’t worry about it, they will be put back somehow overtime but definitely before the school year ends which means that your house is definitely not in a disadvantage in winning the house cup.”

 

Harry nods again, he has read the ruling regarding house points enough to figure out that there are ways to manipulate it for those who knows how. Satisfied with the nod, Severus continues, “Now… as for why you are here….”

 

The man stands up from his seat before clearing his throat once again as if he is going to give a lecture, “You probably don’t remember Harry but just a little less than 11 years ago, there is an…. incident. A certain dark lord paid a visit to a certain cottage in Godric Hollow where a family of three lived. The reason he was there is to find and kill the one person that he suspects to have a power to derail his plan of conquest, stop it in its track even… that person, was you.”

 

Harry eyes widen to the bit of information he has just been told and opens his mouth to speak but a raised palm from Snape stops him from doing so as he allows the man to continue, “Now… he obviously failed somehow since you are here, breathing and definitely alive. We aren’t exactly sure how or why but you did survive and the dark lord was banished, not dead but not exactly alive either. Based on the evidence left behind, there is no doubt that your parents had fought to protect you and paid it with their lives and somehow they also manage to do something to protect you, a feat that is nothing less than a miracle it is….”

 

Snape stops to take a deep breath to control his emotion while McGonagall is rubbing her teary eyes with a hankie. Harry himself feels a sense of loss but since he can barely remember any of them, he can’t really say that he feels sad enough about it to shed tears as the two adults do.

 

Once the two adults manage to control themselves, Minerva continues where the male as left off with a scowl on her face as she remembers the event, “After the attack, Dumbledore send for Hagrid to collect you from Godric Hollow and to bring you to Privet Drive where I had been waiting. I fought your placement there, I had seen them, seen what they are capable of and I knew for a fact you will not grow up happy there but Dumbledore was adamant. He left you on their doorstep with a letter tucked in your blanket to inform the Dursleys of your parentage and what had happened to your parents. Before we left, I managed to put a warming charm and sleeping charm on you in hope that you will feel more comfortable even just slightly.”

 

She looked at Harry with apologetic look which the boy nods in acceptance, the woman had done everything she could and he cannot fault her for that. A small relieved smile adores the woman’s expression which, Harry has to admit, makes the beautiful woman looks even more attractive before she continues, “Severus and I did come back a few months later to see how you are doing and I have to admit that I was so close to transfiguring those pigs and horse into their animal counterparts with how they treated you and we immediately knew that we had to do something more to protect you. Dumbledore’s ward might fend off attack from outside but there is no protection for you from one that comes from the occupants.”

 

She turns to Snape with a smile before continuing, “Thankfully, Severus is a master in wards. He applies a non-violence ward in the house and I decided to make regular check on you to make sure you are well and healthy although I wish that we could do something about their lack of love for you but I couldn’t afford to stand out and alert the headmaster of our meddling with your life.”

 

Harry nods in acceptance but an interesting tale it is, they still hasn't explain why he is here and what they mean by "trouble". When he raise up the issue, Snape answers him with a serious look, "The crux of the problem, Harry is that you are standing in the middle of a war between two titan with the wizarding world in the line. Voldemort wish you dead so that he can rise into power unopposed, Dumbledore wants to use you as a weapon to stop Voldemort and hopefully put himself as the ruler; Neither of them has the best of your well-being as their priority. In fact, whichever of the two won, it doesn't mean well to you at all and frankly, that is NOT an option for us. That's why we are trying to make a third faction, YOUR faction."

 

Harry's shocked expression speaks more than his words ever could at the information. The two adults has went back to silence, most likely to allow Harry to digest that there ARE people out there who wants the best for him and will support him against his perceived fate and for that, Harry is grateful. It takes a while before he finally opens his mouth to speak for the first time since their little tale, it is only one word but apparently it is the only question that matters, “Why?”

 

The boy simply unable to wrap his head around the fact that these two people in front of him willingly put themselves in dangerous situation even put themselves right under the plain view of one of the person who they personally told him is a threat to their own purpose. Part of him wants to question their truthfulness but the emotion that the two has shown him during the whole tale looks too real and impossible to fake even by the best actor or actress.

 

Besides, while the two has “seen” him, he should be little less than a complete stranger to them, why would they go so far for someone they hardly knows? It simply isn’t adding up in his head.

 

Severus bears a genuine smile as he speaks again to explain, “It is simple, Harry. Your parents are one of my best friends, Lily was my childhood friend and love interest while James was someone I can proudly call a rival and someone I will gladly call a brother in anything but blood. You are their child and by association alone, you are family.”

 

Minerva nods her head in agreement before continuing, “I personally taught Lily and James in this very school for 7 years. I can say with perfect honestly and pride that they are the best student I ever have the pleasure of teaching and one of the best and brightest people ever walk through this school. They are my friends, family even and I do see them as my own children. When your parents asked me to be your unofficial godmother, I instantly accepted and I always think it was the biggest honour I ever had the pleasure of accepting.”

 

She turns toward Severus before continuing, “Severus is also your unofficial godfather with your official godfather being currently unavailable.”

 

She turns back to Harry and sees the hope reflected on the boy’s eyes which saddens her as she replies, “I fought over your custody after they died but with your parent’s will sealed and with it the statement that I am to be one of the people your parents personally appointed to be your guardian, I had lost my claim.”

 

Severus lets out a growl as he continues her, “That was also when we realize that Dumbledore does NOT have your best interest at heart and we decided to split from him… at least at the personal goal sense.” At Harry’s questioning expression, he elaborates, “Dumbledore was the one who sealed your parents will using his power as chief warlock of wizengamot even against the official law of the ministry which stated that….”

 

Harry interrupts the man with a quote from the law book he had, “… last will and testament of a deceased wizard or witches of the most noble and ancient house is to be read and made public no later than 2 weeks after their ministry confirmed date of death.”

 

A look of surprise passes the two adults’ face for a moment before a bright smile replaces it as they nods at the first year at the same time. Severus even commented about it, “I can see that you inherit your mother’s love of book. Keep that habit, Harry, knowledge is the one thing that can only serve you well in the future.”

 

Minerva nods her agreement before the second period bell resounds to tell that the next class will come soon and therefore, ends their current meeting. The woman turns to Harry and told him to get to his next class which he follows as he walks out of the door.

 

She then turns to her colleague before asking, “Did you find “her”?” Severus grins widely before answering, “Hermione Granger, the girl looked as if she was ready to rip on me verbally when I gave Harry his 50 points deduction. She also raised her hand on every single question I gave although they are NOT in the text book.”

 

The deputy headmistress raised her eyebrow at the man who just shrugs as he answers casually, “I said they are not in the textbook, not that they are not first year material. Those questions are still first year syllabus, they just need to find another beginner potion book to get the answer. I AM a teacher still.”

 

Minerva nods her head in understanding; she too is an educator and therefore knows that it is great folly to the students who thinks that their in-class textbook will carry everything they need to know about.

 

Finally, Severus picks up a potion bottle from his desk and hands it to the woman as he speaks, “That is the potion that the girl brew in class, I never see any first year able to brew a sleeping potion as perfect as that… not even I at her age. She is simply a genius it is almost a wonder why she didn’t end up a Claw….” He then remembers the gleam on the girl’s eyes right before the class end bell tolls as he mutters, “… Almost.”

 

*Some dialogue and scene taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling


	5. Chapter 5: Trouble with brooms

It is afternoon of early October in Hogwart and one boy sitting on the Hufflepuff table is calmly eating his lunch. Nearly a month has passed since Harry entered Hogwart and the boy has to admit that he is greatly enjoying it. His lessons are fun with the exception of History of magic where Binns seem to be more interested in goblin wars and putting the students to sleep, even Hermione had admitted that she is having trouble staying awake in that class and that's REALLY saying something coming from his studious friend. Severus Snape the potion professor remains a complete prick in class while very civil outside of it, he has explained why he need to be so and Harry understands, he doesn't like it but he understands.

 

The potion master with the help of McGonagall also tells him tales of his parents, Snape mostly about his mother during childhood and his father in Hogwart including the fact that James apparently was quite a bully during the early years until Lily set him straight with a right hook after a prank went wrong saw Snape in the hospital ward. An apology later and the two jump started a friendship that would last in years to come.

 

In contrast, McGonagall tells Harry of James before Hogwart as Potter and McGonagall family has been friend including that the professor herself has been in attendance for baby James christening. She also tells of Lily during her school years, how she had taken the then girl under her wings and how Harry reminds the woman of young Lily in personality despite that he look more like his father at his age. Harry soon bonds with the two adults and certainly has no trouble seeing them as surrogate uncle and aunty respectively which the two replies that the feeling is mutual.

 

Today though, Harry is giddier of the class later in the afternoon. Afterall, today the first years will be getting their first flying lesson and according to Snape and McGonagall both, his father was a very talented flier though Lily would rather face a dragon than being on a broom.

 

Harry snaps out of his musing when he hears commotion from the table accross them. He looks up from his breakfast toward the Griffyndor table and sees that a certain blonde boy wearing robe with green is standing in front of who appears to be a rather chubby first year. Even from the distance, Harry can tell that Malfoy is NOT there to have civil conversation, quite the opposite in fact.

 

A glance to the side provides Harry with the knowledge that McGonagall is absent from the staff table while Snape looks indifferent at first glance but upon close inspection, the boy sees that the man's knuckles are gripping his cutleries so hard that they are shaking. When he sees that Malfoy seem to be reaching for something on the table, Harry has had enough. He stands up abruptly much to the surprise of Hermione who is sitting in front of him before striding toward the Gryffindor table as the other students follows him with their eyes.

 

As he gets closer to his target he hears the blonde speaks with condescending tone while holding a small crystal ball, "... This thing is way too rare and useful to be wasted on the likes of you, Longbottom. I bet... Hey!"

 

The blonde never manage to finish his taunt as Harry's hand moves with the speed and precision of a striking black mamba as he snatches the item from Malfoy's hand, "That's enough, Malfoy! This doesn't belong to you and you have no right to claim it as one!"

 

Draco's eyes narrows as he spats back, "Mind your own business, Potter!" The blonde's arm reaches forward to snatch the item back but Harry's reaction is faster as he easily sidesteps the Slytherin's assault while the attacker trips on his own foot and fall face first to the floor with a thump. The blonde picks up himself from the floor with his hand covering his nose while a trace of blood trickles from it.

 

As if on cue, Snape approaches them as he speaks loudly, "Potter!! 30 points from Hufflepuff for assault on other student. Malfoy, go to the infirmary, NOW!" As soon as he said it, another voice resounds through the hall which Harry recognizes belongs to his head of house, "30 point to Mr. Potter for being prime example of a Hufflepuff should be."

 

Draco glares at Harry and Professor Sprout and look ready to object but a glare from the chubby proffessor stills his tounge before he finally walks out of the great hall, presumably toward the infirmary. Snape himself makes his way back to the staff table though not before giving Harry one last sneer.

 

Harry turns back to the chubby Gryffindor before finally he recognizes the chubby boy, Neville Longbottom. Harry puts the item in his hand on the table in front of the boy, "I believe this belong to you." Neville nods once before replying, "Thank you umm...."

 

Harry smiles at the boy before speaking once again while offering the other boy a hand, "Harry, just Harry is okay." Neville gives him a smile of his own as he reaches the offered for a shake and replies, "Thank you, Harry. Just call me Neville."

 

As the two separates, another hand suddenly reaches out and grabs Harry's before he manages to retract out of its reach. Harry looks up to the owner of the offending hand and sees that it belongs to a boy with bright red hair which he remembers to have angered his head of house on his first day AND has been following him around since then which he finds to be REALLY creepy....

 

Before Harry manages to open his mouth to object, the red head speaks loudly for the whole great hall to hear with un-swallowed foods still in his mouth, not something that bode well on the bespectacled Potter, "Hi Harry, good to see you mate. That was bloody awesome how you floored Malfoy. I am Ron Weasley, I just know we will be best buddies very soon."

 

This time, Harry visibly cringe as he can tell that the red head has been eating using his bare hand and hasn't bother to at least wipe it clean, the greasy feeling on his palm is proof enough. There is also the fact that the red head is spitting pieces of foods from inside his mouth straight to his face.

 

Harry feels someone taps him on the shoulder and turns his head to look at the perpetrator, silently thankful as whoever the person is, they has just provides him with the valid excuse to look away from the youngest male Weasley’s disgusting eating habit. It turns out the person who tapped him is Hermione who also visibly cringe as she sees the red head as she speaks, “Harry, we need to get to class.”

 

Harry wants to nod his agreement when the Weasley boy interrupts him once again, loudly, “Bloody hell, Granger. Just because you want to be the teacher’s pet, doesn’t mean that everyone does. If you want to go, just go ahead then and stop pulling my best mate around, will ya?”

 

As soon as the words escape the red head’s lips, Harry sees Hermione flinch in pain as if the boy’s words has cut her physically and the girl’s eyes seem to dim slightly for a split second but that is enough for Harry as he turns back to Weasley with voice cold as ice while pulling his hand out of the forced handshake forcefully as he speaks just two words, “Apologize… NOW!!”

 

Ron turns to Harry with shocked expression as he stammers, “What? What are you talking about, mate? Surely you aren’t….”

 

Harry’s green eyes swirls with half contained fury to the boy who dares to insult his best friend right in front of him, “I said apologize to Hermione NOW, Weasley! And I am NOT your “mate”.” The youngest male Weasley proofs that he is NOT a completely helpless idiot as he mutters an apology toward the girl he had insulted.

 

Harry turns toward Hermione and grabs her by the shoulder, “Don’t mind him, Hermione. Come on, let’s get to class, I heard Madam Hooch is not someone you want be on your case for being late in class.” The brunette gives Harry a small smile and a nod as she lets the boy lead her to the training field for their flying lesson, leaving a stunned Ronald Weasley behind. As they left the great hall, they hear what seem like several people scolding Ron but neither looks back.

 

Half an hour later, first years of all houses are gathered at the training field and standing in lines according to their houses. This is the only class which every student from all houses will be present at the same time which Harry suspects due to their Professor’s busy schedule. After all, if he is to remember correctly, Rolanda Hooch is also holding the seat of advisor for Holyhead Harpies where she had played for a short term before retiring and recruited to teach at Hogwart.

 

Rumour has it that she only stays in the castle once a week both to teach and act as referee in the school Quidditch game. Harry is cut off from his thought when he sees another person enters the field, the new person look to be a woman in her late 20s or early 30s with short grey hair styled in messy spikes toward all direction and narrow eyes. As the woman approaches, she speaks with clear authoritive voice, “First years, all accounted for? Good.”

 

She walks to the centre of the class and clears her throat once, “Well, Good afternoon, class. My name is Rolanda Hooch, you may call me Professor Hooch or Madam Hooch.” She pauses for a minute for the students to reply before continuing, “Well, what are you waiting for? Pick a broom and stand next to it, hop hop.”*

 

Soon, all of the students are standing next to a broom as they wait for the next instruction. They don’t have to wait long as the woman speaks again; “Put a hand over your broom and say, “Up” clearly.” Once again the students follow the direction and one by one the brooms leap from the ground to their outstretched hand though there are some who seem to be having trouble, Hermione is one of them as she continues to coax the magic broom.

 

Harry taps her on the shoulder before speaking, “Hermione, try to say it with more authority. Imagine it as a puppy, don’t coax it and just order it.” The brunette gives him a strange look but nods anyway as she turns back to her broom. She clears her throat once and takes a deep breath before speaking with clear voice, “Up!” Soon, the broom leaps from the ground to her hand as the girl turn to her best friend with thankful smile and a nod of appreciation.*

 

Once the students has a broom on their hands, Madam Hooch walks around to watch their grip one by one and correcting them, one of the student she stops on is Malfoy which she tells that he is holding his broom the wrong way as his method may result in wrist injury.

 

Once she is satisfied that all of the students are doing it properly, she gives them their next instruction, “Mount your brooms and kick the ground firmly, make sure that you keep your hands tight on the broom to steady yourself. You need to be in control of your broom, don’t let it float away.” The students straddle their brooms and one by one, they slowly rise onto the sky until they are a few feet above the ground.

 

As he is getting higher, Harry has to admit that this seem much simpler and easier than he thought it would be. When he turns to Hermione floating beside him though, his expression turns to concern as the girl is biting her lower lip and seem to be holding in some kind of pain.

 

He floats slowly to her position and says, “Hermione, are you okay?” The girl turns to look at him and he realizes that the girl’s complexion seems much redder than usual and her knuckles are gripping the wooden shaft tightly as if trying to push it down. Still, the brunette nods at him silently if not a little bit shakily.

 

Suddenly, a cry of "DAPHNE!!" resounds through the field followed by a feminine cry for help. Harry turns toward the direction of the voice and sees a girl with long blonde hair struggle to control her broom which is bucking violently before finally losing its magical power altogether, bringing its rider plummeting to the ground. Instinct takes over for Harry as he lowers his body flat against the shaft and speed like a bullet toward the falling girl.

 

Daphne Greengrass may have been cultivating the reputation as the Slytherin "Ice Princess" during the short time since the school starts but that does not mean that she is completely emotionless. The fear when her broom was fighting her control had been very much real, so is the one she is feeling right now as she sees the green grass of the field rushing up to meet her as she is sure that she is going to die.

 

The blonde feels a sudden jerk of her body as she feels someone grab her outstretched hand and pulls it upward. She looks up to her rescuer and sees a black haired boy with emerald green eyes looking back on her as he speaks, "Hold on, I'll get you down."

 

The blonde haired girl nods silently, not trusting her sound to work properly with the shock she is feeling. Slowly, she feels Potter's broom reduces its height until her feet touches the ground followed by her savior landing next to her. The girl opens her mouth to speak but interrupted by their flying professor's holler for everyone to come down as she approaches them with a worried expression.

 

Once the professor is close enough, she grabs Daphne by the arm and says, "Are you okay, Ms. Greengrass? No serious injury?" Daphne shakes her head side to side as she answers, "I'm alright professor, just a little bruise where Potter had grabbed me to catch me."

 

Madam Hooch nods before turning to Harry, "50 points to Hufflepuff for quick and noble action.... I may have an offer for you, Mr. Potter but I need to speak with your Head of house about it first, I will contact you later about it."

 

The three soon is joined by the other students, Tracey Davis rush to Daphne's side while Hermione is on Harry's side. Both new arrivals asks how their friend is doing while the other students catches up. Once both Harry and Daphne assures that they are both fine, the clapping starts. It starts from Tracey Davis, followed by Susan Bones and Hanna Abbott and spreads until every single one of them are clapping... Except for one.

 

Ron Weasley burst out from the crowd with red face nearly matching his hair as he yells, "What the hell was that, mate? Why would you safe... Her." The freckle faced boy sneers toward Daphne as he speaks the last word.

 

Harry sighs outloud as he turns to the other boy, "What is your problem, Weasley? Would you rather her seriously injured by falling from 30 feets off the ground? Is that it? Really?" Ron's face now resembles a tomato as he tries to explain, "Harry, she's a Slytherin. All of them are evil and don't deserve to be saved, that's a fact."

 

Harry rolls his eyes as he faces the red haired boy once again, ready to argue. He is however interrupted by Madam Hooch as she hollers, "50 points from Gryffindor for careless view and insult on others, Weasley."

 

Ron looks at the instructor with disbelieve and ready to open his mouth again to object, "but..." The professor hollers once again, "70 points, Weasley and detention next week with Mr. Filch!" Weasley proof his thick-headedness by opening his mouth once again, "What?! You can't do that!! Next week is the first Quidditch match of the year!!"

 

Hooch's temper finally snaps at the rude boy's complain, "Well, Mr. Weasley. I just did and you got a WHOLE week of detention with Mr. Filch as well as another 150 points reduction for Gryffindor!! Now shut your mouth before I make it 300!!"

 

The whole first years gasps as they hears her threat while the Gryffindors now openly glaring at the red haired idiot, some of the girls from the house of red and gold are already sobbing. Gryffindor is currently already at the bottom place just because of the youngest Weasley boys action and words today that another reduction will put them in negative points. Ron however doesn't seem to understand that as he appears ready to open his mouth again only for another hand to clamp over them.

 

A look over his shoulder shows another male student wearing Gryffindor colored school robe who growled at the red head's ear, "Goddamnit Weasley, Shut up before you drag our whole house into the mud!" Hermione opens her mouth as she wants to correct the boy that the correct saying is "Through the mud" but pauses before she manages to say anything as in retrospect; the boy actually IS accurate in his description.

 

The bell signalling the end of the class resounds followed by the dismissal order from Madam Hooch and the students disperse to their next schedule. As Harry walks back toward the castle with Hermione by his side, another feminine voice calls his name. He and Hermione stops their pace and turns around to see Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis approaching them. Once the two girls are right in front of them, the former of the two drops to her knees as she speaks to Harry, "Mr. Potter, I, Daphne Greengrass owes you a life debt. Anything you ask of me is yours for the asking."

 

Harry turns to Hermione in confusion, this is not something that he ever find in his basic magical law book. Hermione doesn't disappoint as she explains to her best friend, "Harry, you saved her from a potentially grave danger WITHOUT any desire of gain to be found for yourself. Her owing you a life debt means that you can literally asks her to do anything and she is bound by law, magic and even her own life to fulfil it regardless of consequences."

 

Harry frowns at the explanation and scratches the back of his head in frustration.

 

He looks toward the still kneeling Daphne and readily agree that she is a very beautiful girl but that doesn't mean he is comfortable with the fact that she literally is offering herself to him. Hell, he is 11 and his puberty barely even start, a girlfriend is the least of things he wants right now. The boy turns to the black haired girl as he makes his decision, "Very well, Ms. Greengrass. I, Harry James Potter recognize the life debt between us. In return of it, I demand that from today on, you will address me as Harry."

 

Daphne and Tracy both looks at Harry with the look of disbelieve and shock, the former even asks to make sure she has heard correctly, "Umm... Po... I mean… Harry. Are you sure that is all you want of me in return?"

 

The boy shrugs as he answers, "I can't really think of anything else more important to ask of you at this. I frankly have no interest for a girlfriend... Yet of course, but I will be delighted to have a new friend."

 

Now, Daphne is sure she is dreaming. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, WANTS her to be his friend? It is simply too good to be true according to her logic. Daphne may be a pureblood princess and a Slytherin but she does not share the blood purity bigot that a certain other blonde of her house keep spouting.

 

In fact, The Greengrass family has manages to stay neutral during the first war though if one are to observe their stand closely, they will see that the Greengrass always been leaning to the light side. It is purely the fact that none of their family members possess any noteworthy ability to actively oppose the dark side that prevents them for actively fighting the war.

 

Her family name may be old but they are more of a merchant or scholar, not warriors, the best they can do are just to NOT support it. The same case can also be said about the Davies, which is why Daphne and Tracey can be such a close friend so quickly, they have so much in common.

 

When Harry reaches out his hand gently to help her stand back up, all trace of doubt disappears from Daphne's mind and the girl reward her saviour with a wide and gentle genuine smile as she replies, "I...." She hears someone behind her clears their throat and looks over her shoulder to see Tracy Davies with her fist right under her chin. Daphne cannot help but giggles as she turns back to Harry, "I'm sorry, WE would love to be your friend, Harry... and you too, Hermione... If you don't mind me calling you that?"

 

The brunette doesn't mind at all and proofs it by replying, "Only if I can call you Daphne and Tracey in return." Both Slytherin looks at each other and grins widely before turning back to the brunette as they say at the same time, “Deal.”…and a new friendship is born as the quartet makes their way back to the castle while chatting merrily.

 

Later in the evening, Harry and Hermione find themselves back in the Hufflepuff common room as they does their homework for the day while sitting across each other. The room is largely empty with only a few people there while the majority are back in their dorm room for an early sleep or outside doing whatever.

 

As he writes his essay, Harry remembers about his best friend's unusual attitude during the flying lesson. Despite her strange look during the short time they were on the air, the brunette has returned to her usual self instantly afterward and the issue has slipped the boy's mind for the rest of the day until now.

 

The boy leans forward as he speaks to his best friend, “Say, Hermione. What was wrong with you earlier this afternoon?” The brunette stops writing and looks up from her transfiguration essay as she gives him a confused look, prompting him to elaborate which he does, “You know… during the flying lesson, you looked quite… unwell and it seemed to me that you were fighting that broom. What happened?”

 

This time realization dawns on the girl with bushy brown hair followed by a deep blush that spreads on her face. She takes a deep breath to cool down herself and looks around them as if watching for anyone who may be eavesdropping them before answering, though Harry notices that she sounds a little bit more timid than usual, “It’s… nothing, Harry. Really, it was just a minor issue, I was perfectly fine.”

 

Harry isn’t convinced, he has been friend with the brunette for more than a month and he can tell when the girl is trying to hide something from him by now. He doesn’t know what she is hiding but he can tell nonetheless. The boy crossed his arms over his chest and gives the girl a look that says: Do you really think I’ll buy that?

 

Hermione lets out a deep sigh before speaking again, “Look, Harry… It was just… well…. You know what? Just drop it… I was fine, really.” Seeing her friend keeping his stance, Hermione continues exasperatedly, “Come on, Harry… I was fine. You are worried over nothing, I swear.”

 

She look at the boy right in the eyes challengingly until the boy finally gives up, he knows that when the girl gets this stubborn, there is no use trying to get her to spill. Besides, it seems that she is telling him the truth, it may not be the whole truth but she certainly isn’t lying to him.

 

Hermione grabs her quill once again and begins writing her essay homework once again, or at least appears to. She steals a discrete glance toward the boy sitting across her and sees that he is back to being absorbed into his own essay before turning back to her own.

 

With her bangs covering her face from the boy’s eyes, the brunette blushes deep red as she remembers the occasion that her best friend has asked. The 11 years old mentally rolls her eyes as she thinks to herself, ‘There is NO WAY I will ever tell Harry that the broom was pressing right against my crotch as it takes me higher and I was holding it so hard because its instability causes it to dig deeper and deeper inside….’

 

She steals another glance as she completes her thought with a blush several shades deeper than before,’…Nor would I tell him that it actually feels good… REALLY good….’

 

 

*Some dialogue and scene taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling


	6. Chapter 6: Trick and Troll

Harry is nervous, incredibly so that he is starting to wonder how the hell his head of house manage to rope him into this. On his left and right are fellow hufflepuffs wearing yellow and black jersey, thick leather gloves and matching boots while holding a broom in their hands. His memory unconsciously went back to what happened at the breakfast time of the next day after his first flying lesson.

 

Professor Sprout had approached him during breakfast along with Madam Hooch and a seventh year wearing a badge on his robe with the initial QC. The same professor's first sentence told him the reason they are looking for him, "Mr. Potter, let me introduce you." She pointed toward the guy before continuing, "This is Albert Ballen, 7th year and Hufflepuff's Quidditch team captain. He... Has a proposition for you."

 

The three then took him to the Quidditch field for a crash course on Quidditch and a test of his flying ability using borrowed broom belonging to the school, an aging silver arrow. Despite the broom's dismal performance, Harry actually performs rather well which impressed the three spectator, all of whom commented that he was a natural flier. Without further delay, he was inducted officially as the team's reserve chaser at least until next year when he will be allowed to have his own broom.

 

When he told Hermione about it, she was ecstatic for him as she informed him that she had saw a bronze plate on a display that his father was a chaser too during his school year, for the Gryffindor team. Harry cannot help but smile at the knowledge, he finds something in common with his biological father and it was a great present beyond believe.

 

His surprise wasn't done yet though until the dinner feast the same day when an owl burst through the window carrying a long parcel in its grasp. The animal circled above him a few times before dropping its burden on his lap and flew away immediately afterward. Hermione who was sitting accross him peeked at the item sitting on her best friend before her eyes widen as she saw the tip of the item's handle peeking out of the wrapping.

 

The girl's shock wasn't lost on Harry as he untied the string holding the wrapper and let the brown paper spread open, revealing its content. Gasps from the students around him could be heard as they laid eyes on the item, hell he felt like doing the same as he saw a broom sitting on his lap with the marking: Nimbus 2000 Serial No. 00011. A glance to the staff table immediately told him the sender of the gift as McGonagall AND Snape gave him a very subtle nod, the latter even sent him a passive legilimancy saying, 'Consider it an early celebratory present from us. Congratulation on making the house team, Harry.'

 

 

Now nearly a week afterward, during Halloween no less, the black haired boy's thought is interrupted by a tap from Albert as he speaks, "Nervous, Harry? Its too bad that Adam has to pull out due to a fever... But don't worry, you will be fine, just do your best like in practice." Harry nods at the 7th year, he has learned that despite magical potions being able to cure nearly anything, common cold apparently isn't one of them.

 

Soon, the announcer starts the introduction for the Ravenclaw team as one by one, the students with blue and bronze jerseys takes to the air while Albert turns to his teammates, "Alright mateys!! On your brooms!!" His teammates mounts their brooms and one by one, they takes to the sky as they are being introduced.

 

Harry is floating in the middle of the Hufflepuff team still feeling quite nervous. He gulps as he sees the Ravenclaw beaters' predatory look as if they are looking forward to knocking every single Hufflepuffs to the ground. Soon, Madame Hooch blows her whistles as she kicks the ball box open and Harry sees a pair of black metal balls called the bludgers shoot out of it along with a streak of gold which he knows to be the snitch that the seekers will have to catch. With a shout of "Game Start!" from the flying instrustor as she tosses a red leather skinned ball, the only which apparently isn't enchanted to be sentient, to the air and the match is on.

 

Harry immediately shoots toward the red ball the moment it is airbourne just as his captain has intructed him to do. According to the guy, with his Nimbus 2000, he most likely has the fastest broom on the field and therefore advantage against the players of the opposite team. The analysis, simple as it was, apparently spots on as Harry manages to grab the ball just split second before the Ravenclaw chaser.

 

He immediately tosses the ball to the other Hufflepuff chaser who scores a quick easy shot for their team with a fast break. The Hufflepuffs are ecstatic at the goal, their tactic has worked. Unfortunately, their happiness is short-lived as the 'Claws retaliate with their own attack and scored barely a few minutes later for a tie. The stolen goal sobers the Hufflepuffs team that the game has just started and will only gets more intense.

 

Nearly an hour has passed since the Quaffle toss and neither seeker from both team has spot the snitch while the chasers keep trying to increase their points even with the beaters keep trying to prevent them. Sitting from the spectator stand, Hermione has to concede that Harry looks very much in his element up there as he zips all over the place, barrel-rolling to evade the bludgers or out-racing the other players. Although he does very few shots toward the goal, he proof to be incredibly accurate with his passes or intercepting the other team's.

 

That is when trouble rears its ugly head when the girl sees her friend's broom suddenly freezes in mid air as if someone has applied the brake the moment Harry manages to intercept another pass. A gasp escaped her lips when the same broom starts jerking around violently like a bucking horse trying to throw off its rider. She sees Harry manages to throw the Quaffle in his arm to another chaser before going back to gripping the handle to his broom as if his life depends on it.*

 

Her gasp attracts the attention of the person next to her who then points toward the air, "Look!! What is happening up there...?! It's Potter!! His broom is malfunctioning!!" The rest of the Hufflepuffs now turn toward their new chaser and shouts in shock when the broom throws its rider off of it, causing Harry to barely holding on with his hands while the broom keep jerking although it seem not as violent as before.*

 

Hermione looks to the side as she scans the stands for her head of house when something else catches her attention. On the other side of the tribune is Snape who has his eyes locked on Harry's position while his lips seem to be muttering something. Hermione's eyes narrows as she stands up abruptly before going down the stand toward the entry.*

 

The brunette's eyes are burning with determination and purpose as she sprints through the hall leading to the other side of the stadium. She knows that time is of the essence, that broom could throw off her best friend anytime and she isn't sure if Harry can survive a freefall from such a height as she thought to herself, 'Not this time....'*

 

The girl skids to a stop as she starts to climb the stair that will take her approximately to the professor's position as she draws her wand. Once she is sure that she is located behind the professor's sitting position, she slips her wand through the small hole and points it toward the edge of the professor's robe and mutters a charm that she had read on one of the book in the library.

 

A light blue flame shoots from the tip of her wand and connects with the professor's robe causing it to burn. A sound of panic from the other side of the small window tells the girl that her plan has worked as she runs back to the nearest entry to go back to the spectator stand. She emerges through the entry just in time to see that Harry has manages to put himself back on the now calm broom and gets back into the game. A shout alerts the girl that apparently the seekers has spotted the snitch and now vying to catch it before the other.

 

Although the two seekers are side to side, it is obvious that the Ravenclaw seeker, a pretty asian girl has the advantage with her lighter build and faster broom as she is slowly pulling away from the seventh year Hufflepuff. Harry also sees it from his vantage position but powerless to help... Until he sees the now forgotten quaffle in the hand of a Ravenclaw chaser who is remaining stationary just like the others as all of them are focused on the seeker battle.

 

Harry shots toward the chaser and steals the Quaffle from the 'Claw who clearly isn't expecting it if the surprised expression etched on his face is any indication. Without wasting any time, Harry hoists the ball over his shoulder before throwing it, not toward the goal but toward the Ravenclaw Seeker. The leather covered ball does not have enough hardness and velocity to make it harmful but it is plenty enough to shock the asian girl to pull the break right before the ball impacts her and instead, allowing it to pass harmlessly in front of her. The stop however proofs costly as the Hufflepuff captain shoots past her and grabs the golden snitch for his house team's victory.

 

A deafening roar consumes the stadium especially from the Hufflepuff stand as they are standing and yelling their victory in their first game, even Hermione can be found clapping and yelling excitedly. The players starts to descent one by one and Harry finds himself tackled by his captain who wraps his arm over his shoulder as he speaks excitedly, "Bloody hell, Potter!! That was BRILLIANT!! Thanks for the help, buddy!!"

 

The rest of the Hufflepuffs resounds their praises until they see a 6th year Ravenclaw approaching them. A badge with the initial QC attached to his jersey as he approaches the Hufflepuff contingent. Immediately, everyone in the Hufflepuff team stands on alert, Albert even pushes Harry behind him as he stands protectively in front of him.

 

The Ravenclaw captain though raises both his hands to show that he is empty-handed and have no malicious intent before speaking, "I don't want to make trouble. I'm just here to tell Potter that it was quite a Slytherin-ish idea he had. Chang was upset abour the trick but it wasn't against the rule." He grinned before continuing, "Don't expect that to work again or I am NOT a Ravenclaw, you hear me?" Harry just nod nervously, though the guy doesn't want to get violent, the warning has been clear enough.

 

Harry exits the changing room fifteen minutes later after a quick shower and changing into his school robe when he sees Hermione waiting for him. The brunette gives him a wide smile as she speaks, "Congratulation, Harry. First victory in your first game, quite an achievement for your first year at Hogwarts." The boy replies her with a smile of his own as he speaks, "Thanks a lot, Hermione. I appreciate it."

 

The girl tilts her head slightly as she realize that her best friend's smile doesn't really reach his eyes and asks worriedly, "What's wrong, Harry?" Harry gives her a weak smile, he should have expected her to call him on it as he replies, "It's nothing. Its just... today is Halloween and...." The brunette covers her mouth with an "Oh" as she understands the boy's point. She reaches her arms out and pulls Harry in a hug as she whispers, "Oh, I'm sorry, Harry... I forgot that you lost your parents on this day...."

 

Harry nods silently on his best friend's shoulder in understanding and acceptance before Hermione pulls herself back and looks at him right in the eye with a grin as she continues, "Well, I think that we should think of your first victory as a tribute to your parents. Afteral, your father played the same position as you during his school year here." This time Harry smiles heartily as he replies, "I guess you're right. Thanks, Hermione."

 

Feeling much happier now, Harry walks toward the great hall for dinner with Hermione next to him as they chat about their take on the game, especially on Harry's point of view on his first game. It is clear though that Hermione isn't as excited as him about the "sport" as she speaks, "... Well, I'm pretty sure that I will give Quidditch a miss. I mean... I can't imagine myself being that high up in the air with no safety precaution, not even a seatbelt, while being shot by cannonballs. I prefer sitting in the safe and comfy seat in Hogwarts library, thank you very much."

 

Harry rolls his eyes at the girl’s statement but refrains from commenting about it. Personally, he thinks that the brunette is just being a little paranoid and he was the one who was in the air in a deathly situation not even half an hour ago. Still, he knows that arguing with the brunette will accomplish nothing, the girl might be his best friend but keeping her opinion on something to herself is NOT one of her virtue. Besides, he is already used to it since the girl literally has opinion on EVERYTHING. Although most of the time her point is right but doesn’t mean he has to like it.

 

When they reach a crossroad, Hermione suddenly turns to Harry and says, “Sorry, Harry. I need to go to the restroom for a bit.” The boy immediately offers to wait for her, earning him a smile from the girl as she shakes her head, “Don’t, Harry. Just go ahead, you must be famished with how little you ate at lunch.” Truth to be told, the brunette’s deduction is accurate, Harry didn’t ate enough during lunch both due to his nervousness on his first game and the fact having full stomach before working out would be extremely foolish. Still, it is just proper etiquette to wait. The girl rolls her eyes as she continues, “I won’t be long, I promise. Just go ahead and safe me a seat.” Harry finally nods albeit reluctantly, it just doesn’t feel right for him to leave but since the girl is adamant, he just cannot refuse.

 

Harry reaches the great hall soon enough and immediately makes his way to the Hufflepuff table to much cheering by his housemates. He doesn’t have the heart to destroy their good mood by reminding them that he lost his parents at this very same day too so decides that it is better to let them continue. He grabs several items from the prepared platters and place them into his plate including a chicken tight, several slices of roast beef and baked potatoes as well as a glass of pumpkin juice.

 

He starts to eat accompanied with some light chatting with his housemates, most of them praising his skill and quick thinking at the game, Cedric even flashes him a thumb up from the other end of the table. He takes a quick glance toward the staff table and sees both Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall raises their glasses toward him slightly, the latter mouths out wordlessly “For James and Lily…” as the three of them raises their glasses to their lips at the same time in respect for the two heroes, friends and family.

 

The so-called boy-who-lived has finishes nearly half his plate when the great hall door is thrown open with a loud “BANG” as Professor Quirrel enters. The turban-wearing man stutters as he speaks, “Troll… in the dungeon… thought you should know….” Before suddenly collapsing to the floor like a marionette which has its strings cut.

 

For a moment, the entire hall is silent as if they are trying to process the information they as heard before suddenly a scream comes from one of the student sets the panic ball rolling. Pandemonium erupts as every single student is running around in panic in attempt to get away from the threat.

 

The headmaster stands up from his “throne” as draws his wand before pointing it to his throat as he casts, “Sonorus” before speaking toward the students with his magically amplified voice, “Calm down!!” Instantly, the students stops moving as they turn toward the headmaster who continues, “Head Boy, Head Girl, and Prefects, lead the students back to their dorms and make sure they stay there while the staffs handle the issue. Dismissed, now.”

 

Soon, the students start walking out of the great hall back toward their dorms when Harry looks around for his best friend yet finding no sight of Hermione’s brown hair when his eyes widen as he turns toward the first year next to him which happens to be Ernie, “Ernie, did you see Hermione at the feast?”

 

The blonde turns to him as he walks, “Now that you mention it… I haven’t seen her since the game ended. Have you seen her, Justin?” Justin Fitch-Fletchley shakes his head as he answers, “Nope, haven’t seen her either, Harry.” 

 

Harry’s expression turns to terror as he speaks, “That means she wouldn’t know about the troll!” The other two boys eyes widen as well as Ernie speaks, “We need to tell the professors and… Harry, wait!!” The blonde’s warning is too late as Harry already dashes out of the group toward the hallway where he and Hermione had separated.

 

The same time - In the girls’ toilet.

 

Hermione is sitting on the toilet with her robe drawn up to just above her stomach as she let out a sigh as she thought to herself, ‘Why does the nearest toilet from the great hall have to be the dreariest one…?’ As she sits there, her mind returns to her rather impulsive action back in the stadium. Part of her is feeling guilty at having set a professor’s robe on fire deliberately even if at that time, it has been justified in her mind but that still doesn’t make it right.

 

In fact, now that she has time to think about it, she didn’t exactly has a firm proof that Professor Snape had been the one to jinx Harry’s broom and she could have been wrong. Moreover, her spell although not intended could have caused a much more serious incident other than singing the target’s robe. In fact, she could have put other people in danger if her spell had gone wrong and ended up burning a section of the stand, it would have been a disaster and she would be to blame.

 

The brunette puts her face in her hands as her guilt and fear are gnawing on her inside, what if someone is to find out what she did? It is clear to her as they talked that Harry had absolutely no idea of what she had done and frankly, it scares her of what he would think if he does. Would he hate her?

 

Her thought is broken when she hears a loud sound from outside the door. She quickly cleans herself and flushes the toilet she has been sitting on as she stands up to let her robe fall back down to cover her lower half. She presses her ears to the cubicle door and waits for a few minutes when the loud sound comes again, this time she identifies it as akin to a foot step of a massive creature, the questions are just what is it? And why is it here inside the school?

 

A low growling sound from behind the door tells the brunette that whatever the creature is, it is close and getting closer to her. Suddenly, the smell comes and she immediately feels ill from it as she immediately put her face down toward the toilet and vacates her stomach, the smell is simply too much for her stomach.*

 

A loud explosion from outside her cubicle makes the brunette pause on her vomiting as her eyes widen as she realize that she smells stone dust around her. The creature must have broken into the girl’s toilet and therefore right outside of her door. Presses her body against the cubicle door as she tries to blend in with the shadow and remain undetected by the creature as she tentatively looks up to identify the creature.

 

Through the gap between the cubicle and the ceiling, the brunette sees a grey skinned bald head with tiny eyes, huge nose and a mouth that look like it could swallow her whole. She had seen the picture before and immediately puts her hands over her nose and mouth both to stifle her voice and protects them from the smell permeating from the creature as she thinks to herself, ‘A troll… a huge one at that too… what is it doing here?’*

 

The massive creature seem to be sniffing something as it approaches the occupied cubicle while Hermione closes her eyes tightly, she knows from her reading that no matter what she does, the troll will most likely find her anyway, if not by her voice, then by her smell as one of the troll’s strength point is their nasal perception. That doesn’t stop her from trying to survive as long as possible though as she presses her body tighter to the cubicle almost as if she is trying to melt into it. A giant hand then reaches out toward her and moves around as if it is looking for something inside the box and Hermione got herself an idea, a reckless idea but an idea nonetheless.*

 

The girl slowly reaches into her pocket and withdraws her wand from it before pointing it toward the troll limb in front of her as she whispers on of the spell that she has read, “Incendio…” a flash of fire escapes from the tip of her wand and connects with the hand which causes the troll to immediately retracts it as it howls in pain.

 

The brunette immediately unlocks the cubicle door and leaps out of it to escape just in time as the troll lifts its club and smashes the cubicle with it in retaliation. Hermione looks over her shoulder and her eyes widen in fear as she sees that the troll has seen her and now trying to reach for her. For a moment, the brunette experience flashes of her life as she thinks that she is going to die.*

 

A shout of her name by a familiar voice from the former door of the toilet alerts the girl that Harry has arrived. She looks up to him and finds him looking toward her before bending to grab one of the stone rubble and throws it toward the troll’s head while shouting, “Get away from her!!”

 

Although it doesn’t seem that the troll understands his words, it does move its attention from her to the new arrival as it growls and tries to reach for the boy with its empty hand. However, Harry proofs to be too fast for it as he leaps out of its reach before grabbing another stone and throws it once again toward its head, probably trying to hit its eyes to blind it.*

 

The troll apparently frustrated by its failure to catch the small human swings his club toward Harry who leaps once again out of its way as the club destroys what remains of the stone door. Harry jumps on its back and pulls out his wand although it is apparent that he has no idea what to do with it. With a move that surprise Hermione in both its ingenuity and stupidity,

 

Harry tries to reach around the troll’s neck as he tries to jab the creature’s eye with the pointy end of his wand… only of it to enter the massive creature’s nostril instead. The troll trashes around as it howls in pain from having the inside of its nose stabbed by the equivalent of a toothpick or needle for human and swings its club wildly as it tries to reach of Harry behind its back with one hand and hopefully dislodge the wand.*

 

Hermione ducks out of the way with piercing scream as the troll’s club pass above her and smash the other cubicles in its rage before shoutings toward her best friend, “Harry, pull out your wand!!” The black haired boy is still hanging for dear life as he shouts back, “I can’t!! It’s stuck!!”

 

Finally, the troll seem to have had enough as it let go of its club and let the heavy item to the floor as it now trying to reach for Harry with both of its hands. Hermione looks toward the discarded club as another crazy idea crosses her brain. She points her wand toward the club as speaks, “Wingardium Leviosa!”

 

Hermione can tell that she is nowhere powerful enough to lift it for long as the item feels incredibly heavy for her to barely even move it but slowly, the heavy club is rising in the air but it is barely reaches the troll’s knee. She positions the club above the troll’s feet before letting it go and hit the troll’s toes.*

 

The troll now roars in pain from another source and momentarily forgets about the wand that is still stuck on its nose and it reaches down to grab its abused toes. This allows Harry to finally forcefully pull his wand out and jumps down from the troll’s back to stand next to Hermione as he turns to her, “Now what?”

 

Hermione points her wand toward the club once again as she answers, “Help me with lift this!” the black haired boy nods as he too point his wand toward the discarded item as casts at the same time as his best friend, “Wingardium Leviosa!”

 

This time, the club rises much higher than the first time, approximately just under 8 feet while the troll is still distracted by its own foot. The two first years visibly struggling to keep the heavy stone club afloat as they position it right above the troll’s head before Hermione shouts, “Now, let go!!”

 

The club once again drops due to the full of gravity and connects squarely with the back of the troll’s head. The creature’s head smash to the ground face first due to the impact and it let out a groan before finally silence as it pass out.*

 

Harry and Hermione are panting loudly due to their exertion of energy when they hear footsteps from the direction of the door behind them. A feminine gasp alerts them that the professors have finally arrived as they turn around to see the four head of houses and Dumbledore there. The head of Griffyndor turns to them as she speaks authoritively, “What is happening here, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger? Why are you two not in your dorm as ordered?”*

 

Hermione and Harry exchange their glances before the former steps forward to speak, “Its my fault, professor. I….” before she manages to continue, Harry steps forward too and interrupts her, “That’s okay, Hermione. Let’s just tell them the truth.”

 

He turns toward the professors before answering, “We are sorry, Professor but when I realize that I couldn’t find Hermione after we are ordered to go back to the dorm, I realize that she didn’t made it to the great hall for dinner so I went looking for her. When I arrived, the troll was already here and had Hermione cornered, so I just had to intervene.”*

 

The professors nod their heads in understanding before McGonagall speaks up, “Very well, but your disobedience still have to be punished, Mr. Potter. 50 points from Hufflepuff for disobedience….” Hermione now appears ready to protest on the unjust treatment when the deputy headmistress continues, “…and 100 points to each of you for loyalty, courage and dumb luck. Now, I want you two to go to the infirmary to be checked up for injury and then back to your dorms for the night.”

 

Hermione immediately closes her mouth back and turns toward Harry who nods as he takes her by the arm and pulls her toward the infirmary.*

*Some dialogue and scene taken from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling


	7. Chapter 7 :  Hagrid’s Egg

Harry wakes up on his bed to the still darkness outside of the window of their dormitory. He shivered slightly from the cold winter air and a glance toward the clock hanging on the wall showed that it was barely pass 6.30 in the morning, the normal time for him to wake up before class… and incidentally, the time he used to wake up so that he won’t be late on making breakfast at Privet Drive.

 

The boy makes a rueful smile as he thinks to himself, ‘Old habit dies hard it seems...’ The black haired 11 years old hops off his bed and grab his clothes and towel before heading toward the shower. With most of the Hufflepuff students already gone back to their homes, Harry decides that he can afford to take his time in the morning; the hot water against his skin relieves him from the cold air even temporarily but also allows him to wash off the remaining sleeping dust.

 

It is half an hour later that Harry finally emerges from the shower room, clean and dressed for the day. With nothing else to do, he decides to go into the common room and wait for the other remaining students to appear though he suspect that most of them won’t be waking up anytime soon. He emerges from the barrel entrance and immediately greeted by a familiar female voice, “Good morning and Merry Christmas, Harry. You’re still quite an early riser, aren’t you?”

 

Harry smiles toward the owner of the voice who apparently now possesses the ability to tell his presence without looking away from her book as he replies back, “Good morning and Merry Christmas for you too, Hermione. You’re not one to talk since you obviously had woken up earlier than I do.”

 

The brunette finally lowers the book covering her face and looks toward her best friend with a quizzical, “What makes you think that?” 

 

Harry’s smile grows wider as he points toward the half plate of sandwich and half empty cup of tea sitting next to the girl as he replies, “That proves that you have been here for a while before I came in.”

 

The girl finally shrugs and smiles as she speaks again, “Guilty as charged. By the way, you got some presents under the Christmas tree. I didn’t open them, of course.”

 

Harry’s expression shows his confusion as he reiterates the girl’s sentence, “A present? For me? Who would?”

 

Hermione looks at the boy with equal look of confusion as she replies, “Why not? You sound like you never got a Christmas present, ever.”

 

Harry shakes his head as he speaks again, “Because I never did, Hermione. My… “family” never bothers to give me one and there is no reason for anyone else to do so.”

 

Hermione stands up from her seat and approaches Harry before hugging him close as she speaks, “I’m sorry, Harry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

 

Harry hugs the girl back and shakes his head as he answers with a smile, “its okay, Hermione. You didn’t know and it doesn’t bother me anymore. I just… got used to it. I appreciate your thought though.” The two stayed for a few more minutes before finally letting go.

 

As the two separates, Hermione immediately goes toward the pile of presents under the Christmas tree and removes one of them which is the size of a medium sized box before going back to Harry. The brunette then hands the present toward the boy as she speaks, “Well congratulation on getting your first Christmas present, Harry. This one is from me. I was thinking of letting you find it under the tree but I think your first present is better to be personally given.”

 

Harry smiles ear to ear as he accepts the gift, “Thank you, Hermione. Can I open it?” It only takes a nod from the brunette before Harry takes off the bow and wrapper on the cube shaped present and opens the box to find a chocolate frog inside holding a hand-written card in its mouth that says “Merry Christmas, Harry Potter. From Hermione Granger.” 

 

Harry takes the card from the frog and reads it several times before looking up to the brunette who says, “I’m sorry, I asked a fourth year to buy it for me during her hogsmade visit because I heard they are really good. If I had known this would be your first Christmas present, I’d have asked her to buy something better.”

 

The bespectacled boy shakes his head vigorously as her takes the frog and break a small piece of it before putting it in his mouth, savouring the sweet milk chocolate melting in his mouth before swallowing it and replies to her, “Don’t be, Hermione. It’s the thought that count for me and it’s very thoughtful of you. Thank you very much.”

 

The two 11 years olds exchanges smiles with each other before Harry finally speaks again, “Well, shall we go for breakfast, now?” which makes Hermione give him a confused look, “You aren’t going to open the other presents?”

 

This time, it is Harry’s turn to give the brunette a confused look which she then explains, “I said there are presents for you, Harry. Plural, means that I wasn’t the only one giving you present, you got some from other people too.”

 

Harry raises his eyebrows as he walks toward the Christmas tree where a pile of presents still sitting there waiting to be opened. Sure enough, two other boxes has his name on it which he takes from the pile before bringing it back to the couch where Hemione is waiting. Both boxes are roughly the same size and does not weight much different from each other although the wrappings are distinctly different.

 

Deciding that trying to determine the content is impossible for both boxes, he picks one randomly before opening it. Inside, he finds a book that he recognizes to be a copy of his own charm textbook, a previous edition by the looks of it. Taking the book from the box, he turns the title page and nearly drops it as he looks at the name written at the first page, “Lily Evans. Gryffindor”

 

Seeing Harry’s shocked expression, Hermione take a peek on the page and immediately understands, “It is your mom’s first year charm text book. There is no sender card… I wonder who sent it to you. whoever that is must have been really close with your mom to have possess something that belonged to her.”

 

Harry simply nods; not trusting his voice to not blow the secret as he has a distinct idea who would send him the book. Who else could it be but the person who has been his mother’s best friend during her early years at Hogwart, one Professor Severus Snape.

 

Putting down the book back into the box, Harry turns toward the other box wondering if the other box contains something that belonged to his father sent by McGonagal. Hermione sensing her best friend’s reluctance decide to speak it, “I can leave you alone if you want me to, Harry. It might be something that your father left for you alone.”

 

Harry looks at the girl with grateful expression but shakes his head side to side, “Stay Hermione. I don’t mind... in fact, I’ll feel better if you stay.”

 

The brunette nods silently as Harry unwraps the box and takes out a dark brown cloak from it. The material seem to glitter slightly under the light and feels like velvet under his fingers. Under the cloak, Hermione notices a folded parchment which, with Harry’s permission, she opens and read, “I borrowed this from your father a long time ago. Use it well. There is no sender name either though… I wonder what’s so special about this one….”

 

Harry shrugs, the cloak feels soft and very light but otherwise doesn’t seem to be anything special. Deciding that he has nothing else to do with it other than trying it on, he puts the cloak around him and immediately hears Hermione gasps. Understandably so as the moment Harry puts the cloak on, his entire body from the neck below vanishes leaving him looking like a floating head.

 

He takes the cloak off and his body immediately back in view. The black haired boy tries putting it on and taking it off again several times as his face immediately brightens as he exclaims, “Cool! This thing is awesome.”

 

Hermione smiles at him as she speaks, “That’s an invisibility cloak, I hear it’s extremely rare and valuable. You might want to keep that 1 hidden, Harry. Someone might try to loot it if they know that you have one.” Harry simply nods as he takes off the cloak and goes back to his dorm to hide it at the bottom of his trunk along with the book before emerging once again at the common room with Hermione still waiting there for him before they both head to the great hall for breakfast.

 

The seats in the great hall is mostly empty due to the lack of students in sight, both due to most of them has gone home that day before or still sleeping on their own beds, taking advantage of the holiday means no real reason not to sleep in.

 

The atmosphere in the huge room though is unmistably festive; The castle apparently has pulled all the stops with the decorations. Small christmas trees are located between the house tables, each of them decorated extensively with white and red ribbons as well as various christmas decorations, even the stars at their top seem to be glowing bright enough to resemble a real one.

 

Mistletoes are floating in the air and constantly moving around gently around the room, all of them decorated with ribbons which flap resembling butterfly wings. Even the food on the table shows the christmas spirit of the castle with everything being traditional christmas cuisine, Slices of Roasted Turkey meat, Mince Pies, Chocolate Yule Log cake, Even chocolate puddings with mint and raspberry topping making them looking like Christmas cake. Even someone who is not very familiar with Christmas celebration like Harry have no difficulty deciding that the amount of festive celebration in the castle is far from normal although in the good way.

 

Harry leads Hermione toward the Hufflepuff table so they can start their breakfast before asking, “So Hermione, you told me that will not be going back to Crawley for Christmas holiday this year but you never did get around to tell me why.” The bespectacled boy grabs one of the roast turkey slice from the silver platter before continuing with serious tone, “I hope you didn’t just decide to stay here just to keep me company instead of spending it with your family, I will be very upset with you if you did.”

 

Hermione shakes her head as she picks up a roast potato from the small platter next to the turkey as she replies, “Of course not, Harry. I do usually spend christmas time together with my parents but this year, they are attending a conference and will not be home for christmas. I did offer to come with them but they told me that the conference would be extremely boring and it is better for me to stay at school instead with my friends.”

 

Harry nods as he accepts the brunette's explanation before speaking again, "well, we don't have class for today. Why don't we visit Hagrid? We had been so busy with class that we haven't been able to see him since we arrive to the castle."

 

The brunette next to him nods once as she swallows before answering with a with smile, "Great idea, Harry. It would be great if we can keep him company, it must be quite lonely to be living alone in his hut all the time."

 

The two first years quickly finished their breakfast as the other remaining students starts to enter the great hall for their own breakfast. They immediately makes their way toward the forbidden forest or the edge of it to be exact where Hagrid's hut is located.

 

As they approaches, the white smoke coming out of the chimney clues them that the massive man is home and probably cooking his own breakfast. They quicken their pace until they reches the massive wooden door that obviously modified to accomodate the house's occupant.*

 

They knocks on the door and immediately rewarded by a familiar voice, "Come in, the door is unlocked" Harry and Hermione nods at each other as they put their hands on the door and push it open. As they enter, they are greeted by the sight of Hagrid stirring something inside a pot with a laddle.

 

The man turns his head to look at them and smiles as he immediately stop what he is doing to approach them, "Harry and Hermione, it is great to see you two. Why don't you two takes a seat and tell me What brings you both here instead of preparing to go back to London?"

 

Harry exchange glances with Hermione before replying, "Well... You know how the Dursleys are so I'd rather stay here for christmas instead od with them. As for Hermione, her parents had an important matter to take care of outside the country so they suggest that she stays at school too instead."

 

Hagrid nods his head several times in understanding as he replies, "Well, that cannot be helped, I guess..." the bearded man finally stops stirring his cauldron and reaches for a pot as he removed something from inside the cauldron before putting it on the table as he speaks, "Well, I'm sure that you two will find something to do here at Hogwarts… Nothing mischievous, I hope?”

 

Harry gives a small smile at the gentle giant of a man as he replies, “Of course not, Hagrid. Wouldn’t dream of it.” Hermione finally cannot stifle her curiosity anymore and asks, “What are you cooking, Hagrid? It seem like you have been stirring the pot for a long time so I thought you were making a soup but I saw that you picked up something solid from it, just what is in the pot?”

 

The man smiles widely from ears to ears as he replies, “Oh, I wasn’t cooking, Hermione. Here, let me show ya… this is something that I have always dreamed of since I was your age.”

 

Hagrid reaches into the pot with his still mitten hands and removes what look like a stone from inside before putting it on the table. The item in the table is oval shaped with smooth surface at the size of a quaffle and it is dark purplish in colour. Harry looks at the item in confusion, unable to tell what the round thing is exactly and why it makes Hagrid so giddy with excitement. Hermione though is another matter entirely as her eyes widen as she lets out a gasp, “Hagrid… don’t tell me this is a….”

 

Hagrid’s smile grows wider if it is even possible as he nods, “Yes, Hermione. A dragon egg, a real one and I have been keeping it warm for a while now. It should hatch anytime soon by the looks of it.”

 

This time Harry mirrors his best friend’s reaction as he exclaims, “A dragon egg? I thought it is an extremely dangerous thing and illegal to own one. Hagrid, are you sure it is safe to keep it here?”

 

Hagrid rolls his eyes as he replies, “You’re overreacting, Harry. Don’t worry, I know what I am doing and… oh my, look its moving, that means that it will hatch soon and I will have a baby dragon of my own.” Harry exchange glances with Hermione, they both knows that it looks like nothing they say about the danger of owning a dragon egg will get through to Hagrid… which means they need to find another plan.

 

Finally they turn back to Hagrid, “Well… umm… it’s nice to see you again, Hagrid. We’ve just remembered that we promise to meet our friends in the great hall… so… umm… see you.” Since Hagrid seem to be very preoccupied by his egg, the only reaction they get from him is just a nod of confirmation that he heard them before they makes their way out of the door.*

 

The moment they walks through the door, both first years dash toward the castle as fast as their legs can carry them. They soon reaches the library and huddled across each other on one of the table at the deserted corner before Hermione sets the ball rolling, “We need to get that egg out of Hogwart, Hagrid can get into serious trouble with the ministry if they finds out he is keeping a Grade A dangerous goods illegally.”

 

Harry replies with the same sense of urgency, “Don’t you think I know that, Hermione? The question is how? You saw that thing yourself, it looks ready to break open already and I’m more concerned about his safety, that dragon could easily burn his hut down with one misplaced fire breath.”

 

Suddenly, someone else interrupts their conversation from the side, “Burn down who?” Both Hufflepuffs immediately turns their face toward the source of the voice and immediately comes face to face with a familiar face, “Oh hi, Daphne, Tracey. We’re just talking about Hagrid’s new… interest.”

 

The Slytherins raises their eyebrows at the same time as they each pulls out a chair for themselves before Daphne speaks up, “Hagrid? You mean Rubeus Hagrid, the school groundkeeper?”

 

Harry and Hermione nods at the same time as the latter explains, “Well… he was an old friend of Harry’s parents. We’ve just visited him in his hut and… we found out that he has recently got his hands on a rather… troublesome item. So we’re thinking of a way to smuggle that thing out of Hogwart so he won’t get into trouble over it.”

 

This time Daphne and Tracey looks at each other before turning back to the Puffs’, “What about the Weasley twins?” Hermione raises her eyebrows as she replies, “Weasley who?”

 

Tracey immediately explains to the Hufflepuff duo, “They are Gryffindor third years who kind of… known for being notorious pranksters. They regularly smuggle items from Hogsmead or Diagon Alley into the school but no one ever been able to proof that they did it. If anyone knows how to get questionable items out of Hogwart without anyone else knowing, they are your guys.”

 

Hermione bites her lower lips, something that the others on the table have recognized as her “thinking pose” before she turns to Harry, “Well… I guess it worth a shot… what do you think, Harry?”

 

The other Puff shrugs his shoulders before replying, “I don’t usually like pranksters, as far as I know, it is only called a “prank” when they aren’t on the receiving end of it while to the target, they might as well be a bully.” He takes a deep breath before continuing, “But… if they can get Hagrid out of the future problem then… I’m willing to take the chance.”

 

Hermione nods once before turning back to the other two, “So… where can we find them, are they still in the school?” Daphne immediately replies, “I think they are still in the great hall when we left, they might still be there.” Hermione and Harry turns to each other and nods at the same time as they stands up at the same time… only to hear another pair of chairs move across them as Daphne and Tracey stands up too.

 

The Slytherins looks at the Puffs’ questioning look which causes Daphne to roll her eyes, “What? You think we’d let you do this alone? We’re friends, Harry and friends help each other, we want in.”


	8. Chapter 8 :  The Weasley Twins

Harry and Hermione peeks through the Great hall’s door and immediately scans the Gryffindor table for their targets, quite easily once they spot a row of red hairs there. There are only a handful of twins in the castle after all and even fewer has red hair trademark of Weasleys.

 

Harry immediately goes to make his way toward them before a hand on his arm stops him on his track. Harry turns around toward the owner of the hand who shakes her head before speaking, “Not here, Harry. It will attract too much attention. If everyone sees you approaching the supposedly infamous prankster, they would wonder why especially since we are in different houses and never interact with each other. Let’s wait until they left, instead.”

 

Harry immediately tries to protest although he barely able to get out the word, “But…” before Hermione interrupts him again, “No, Harry. Hagrid’s egg may hatch soon but rushing will get us nowhere except for unnecessary trouble and if those twins are as infamous as Daphne and Tracey said they are, then the last thing we want is for staff members to be suspicious of what we are up to.” 

 

Another set of nods from the two mentioned Slytherins seals the deal as Harry has to concede that the girls got a point as he replies, “Fine… but only for an hour, any longer and I’ll go in regardless.” Hermione bites her lower lip as if considering the possibility before finally nodding her head, “Fine, one hour.”

 

All four first years heads toward an empty classroom nearby as they keep an eye on the door. It turns out that they don’t even have to wait for another 15 minutes as a pair of red heads walks out of it while chatting with each other. Harry and Hermione gives signal to each other as they moves while Daphne and Tracey wait for them in the classroom.

 

The bitter relationship between Gryffindor and Slytherin has been public knowledge for everyone in the school and the quartet has decided that it might be best not to risk the twins refusing to help out of spite. As planned, both Hufflepuffs chase the red head duo before introducing themselves, “Excuse us, are you two Fred and George Weasley?”

 

Both red heads turns toward the source before one of them speaks, “Well, if it isn’t the infamous Harry Potter…” the other completes the sentence, “… and his girl friend, Hermione Granger? What does the two most famous puffs…” again, the other sibling continues seamlessly, “… need from us?”

 

The two first years raises their eyebrows with their jaws hanging before Hermione finally manages to respond, “That was… amazing… how did you two do that?”

 

This time the Weasleys shrugs their shoulders at the same time as they answers together, “Dunno… but you still didn’t answer our question.” Harry clears his throat to get his mind back on track before answering, “Before that… can we talk somewhere a little bit more private? We need help with something that is… a bit risky so to speak.”

 

Again, both red heads exchange looks with each other and shrugs before answering together, “Sure, come to our office, then.”

 

The two third years leads them through the halls until they reach an empty classroom at the third floor. Once inside, one of the twins wave his wand toward the door and a wet squelching sound comes from the door before explaining, “Locking charm, you’ll learn it someday in second year. So, what is this about?”

 

Harry and Hermione exchange looks with each other as the two comes to a silent agreement that the latter would explain, “Well… the simple explanation, we found out that Hagrid had got his hand on a dragon egg and wish to get rid of it. I mean… we might not be very knowledgeable about wizarding world but… with Hagrid’s rather… infamous taste in animal, we think that it’s better not to have a dragon at school.”

 

This time, it’s the twins turn to exchange worried glances with each other before turning back to the first years, “Hagrid has a dragon egg? Please tell us that he isn’t trying to hatch it….” A pair of nods from the first years cued the other twin to ask, his tone no longer joking, “How long?”

 

Harry decides to answer this time, “We’re not sure… but that thing seems ready to hatch anytime soon.” Both twins gulps nervously before answering, “Okay, we’re in. We have a brother who works as dragon keeper in Romania. We’d contact him and hopefully has him pick up the egg before it burns down the castle, we’ll tell you the answer before dinner.”

 

Harry and Hermione nods together and the four walks out of the classroom, the twins heading toward the owlery with hurried pace while the first years head toward the classroom where Daphne and Tracey are waiting for them. Both hufflepuffs tells their fellow first years that Weasley agreed to help which causes the Slytherins to sigh in relief. Their task of smuggling the dragon egg out of the castle is still a daunting task but with the twins on board it has become much easier.

 

If there is anyone who can think of a way to smuggle anything in and out of Hogwarts, the twins would be damn near the top of their list. All four of them decides that with nothing else to do but wait for news from the twins, they will split for now until dinner as they goes to their own day activities.

 

The evening and in extent, dinner time just cannot come fast enough for the first year Hufflepuff duo. Hermione in particular, Harry notices, has been very much distracted that even her homework has remained pretty much untouched even after the brunette finish biting off 4 of her quills due to her thinking habit.

 

As they sit on the Hufflepuff table for dinner, they notice that the twins aren’t among the Gryffindors which cause them to get even more worried about the situation. Even after they finish eating, neither of the Weasley twins is in sight… until someone taps Harry on the shoulder and passes him a piece of parchment.

 

Harry opens the parchment discreetly under the table before reading it, the sentence is short and brief but there is unmistakable tone of urgency there, “Come to our office.” He shared the note with Hermione next to him who nods before both of them stands up from their seat at the same time.

 

Their action catches the attention of the other two Slytherin girls who immediately follows suit though they obviously try to make it look like a normal coincidence. Once they exit the great hall, all four of them waste no time heading toward the same classroom at the third floor. This time though, they don’t see the point of leaving the Slytherins out of the meeting. They suspect that they going to need all the help they can get, after all.

 

Once the quartet reaches the designated unused classroom at the third floor, Harry knocks on the door several times. The door opens as two pairs of arms flies and grabs them by the collar and pulls them in before the door closes once again behind them. All four first years staggers as they roughly pulled into the classroom but thankfully none of them fall over from it.

 

The turns around to see the third year twins looking at them strangely… until they land their eyes at the two Slytherin girls’ green collar lining. Their eyes narrows as they speaks at the same time dangerously, “What are those two snakes doing here? Have you two been tricking us?”

 

Hermione clears her throat while correcting her robe, the twins’ harsh pull has caused her only decency protection to loosen slightly, “These two are Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davies and they are our friends. They agreed to help with our… task.” Both Slytherin girls nod at the same time while trying to fix their own robes,

 

Daphne in particular speaks firmly in their defence, “Harry helped me in class before and we ends up being friend afterward. We promise that we’re here to help, we both can give a wizarding vow if that is what it takes for you to believe us.”

 

Harry might be clueless on wizarding vow but Hermione isn’t as she interjects, “Daphne, wizarding vow is a serious thing. You shouldn’t do it over something like this….” This time Tracey answers her friend, “No, Hermione. Daphne was right; neither of us would mind giving our wizarding vow if it is necessary to proof that we value our friendship.”

 

The two Slytherins turns to the twins challengingly who just raises their own eyebrows in response. Finally, the two red heads lets out boisterous laugh which makes the four first years turn to each other in confusion.

 

It takes a while until the twins are sober and coherent once more as they speaks at the same time, “Well said, you two. Well said, indeed.” They smiles kindly at them before continuing, “Our apologies, lassies. We don’t trust many Slytherins but… if you two are ready to make wizarding vow over it, then you are cool in our book. That was a very Gryffindor thing to do… which is ironic in itself.”

 

They clears their throat before speaking again in all serious tone, “So… we told our brother Charlie, he replied that he would be able to arrive here tomorrow night at the earliest. Now, here is the draft of our plan that we came up with…. Feel free to add your own insight to it.”

 

All six of them huddles around one of the desk that the twins has moved and spread their parchment about their plan. It takes several hours before all six of them walks out of the classroom, looking quite satisfied with their combined plan.

 

All it takes for them left to do is go back to their respective houses for the night and wait for the right time the next day to put the plan into action, hopefully with no problem. Hermione cannot help but worry though as she walks back to Hufflepuff common room, ‘They say that no plan escapes enemy confrontation… For once, I hope the book was wrong….’


	9. Chapter 9: Dragon in the castle

Harry shows up to the common room as the day nearing afternoon with Hermione already waiting there with a book in front of her as usual. The brunette turns to him as if she is capable of sensing his presence with a sixth sense and greets him with slightly worried tone, “Finally you show up, Harry. I was worried that you might be sick when you missed breakfast.”

 

The boy shakes his head in return as he replies, “I’m fine Hermione, thanks for worrying. I was just… having a little trouble sleeping, nightmare about… well… you know….” He finished the sentence with an unspoken word though his lips are moving, “…tonight.”

 

Hermione catches what her best friend means and simply nods wordlessly; even she herself had been getting a nightmare about their plan tonight. Afterall, no matter how they reason it, their plan is shabby at best due to just been thought about in one day. There are just too little time to really smooth it over even with the help of the best pranksters of their generation and like all hurried over plan, there is just too many things that can go wrong with it. One of her worst fear has been one that results in something much worse than simple expulsion.

 

She is finally broken out of her thought by Harry who is shaking her by the shoulder and turns toward her best friend, “I’m sorry, Harry. I was just in deep though, what did you say again?”

 

Harry sighs, he knows that Hermione is quite prone on ignoring others when she is thinking deeply so he decides repeats himself, “I’m wondering if you want to go with me for lunch, Hermione… then maybe we can visit Hagrid once again, see if we can… well… reason with him.”

 

Hermione nods and puts away the book she was reading before standing up, “Sure, let’s do that. Maybe we can introduce him to the others too, I figure that we will need all the help we can get to convince him….” She adds with a whisper for only Harry to hear, “… or wrestle that egg from him.”

 

In the great hall, both Hufflepuff first years find themselves having little appetite though Harry forces himself to eat due to having missed breakfast. They also manages to find Tracey and Daphne who are discussing their holiday plan, both of them having decided to go back to their respective homes the next day. Both Slytherins agrees to come with them to Hagrid’s hut as they already finished packing and therefore has little else to do.

 

The quartet makes their way through the grass field separating the castle and the hut where the massive groundkeeper live while making small chats among them. The topic keeps on changing from lessons, homeworks to their family life. The two Hufflepuffs in particular learns a lot about the fact that most pureblood families are still stuck in the 18th century. Ironically, those who are more accepting of muggles and muggleborns tend to have more “modern” outlook compared to those with prejudice though for the most part, the still stuck to the old ways.

 

They soon reaches Hagrid’s hut which Harry is ready to knock on the door when they are interrupted by a strange animalistic sound inside followed by Hagrid’s yell as well as the smell of something burning. Their eyes widen as Harry immediately forgone the knocking and all four of them charge against the wooden door… to find it unlocked, sending them stumbling into the hut. All four of them immediately find Hagrid with wet and singed beard having obviously put some water on it. Before they manage to ask, a weird “Squack” turns their attention to the table… and the small creature on it.

 

The creature on the table is barely the size of their palm with scally appearance, long neck and tiny pair of wings on its back. It doesn’t take long for them to realize: The dragon egg has hatched… and now they have a baby dragon in Hogwarts. All four of the first years immediately understands one thing, their task tonight has just taken a new height of difficulty….

 

Hagrid sees the new first years in his house, two of them he recognizes and immediately greets, “Harry, Hermione, nice to see you two again. I see you brought friends this time, hmm?”

 

The man turns to Daphne and Tracey before intruding himself, “I believe this is the first time we personally meet? My name is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys, game and ground of Hogwarts School, nice to meet you two.”

 

The first years having been addressed turns their attention back to Hagrid as Hermione takes control, “Hello again Hagrid, these two are our friends Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis.”

 

Both girls offer theirs hands for handshakes which Hagrid heartily returns, “Well well, any friends of Harry and Hermione are friends of mine. Do make yourself comfortable, this place is not much but I hope you won’t hold it against me.”

 

Another squack from the baby dragon on the table immediately gains everyone’s attention once again as Hagrid immediately rush to hold the baby in his arms and coo at it like he would a human baby. Hermione cannot hold back anymore ask she asks, “Hagrid, is that… a baby dragon?”

 

Hagrid smiles widely at her as he answers, his excitement is clear to see, “That’s right, Hermione. Remember the egg from yesterday? Well, it hatched just now and little Norbert here is born, isn’t he adorable?”

 

The groundkeeper’s answer does not sooth the others one bit as Hermione speaks again, “Hagrid, this is not a joking matter… you can get serious trouble for keeping a dragon In Hogwarts.”

 

Hagrid scoffs as he turns to Hermione, “Oh come on, I’m sure you’re just exaggerating, Hermione… little Norbert here won’t be hurting anyone. I’m sure that I can teach him to be good.”

 

Hermione turns to the others for confirmation, all three of them shakes their head “no”. Dragons are classed class A dangerous creature for a reason, their wild instinct simply nearly impossible to tame. They can be trained, yes but tamed? Unlikely… and that’s putting it lightly. Daphne suddenly steps forward and speaks, “Hagrid, can I see Norbert? I’ve always thought they are interesting.”

 

Both Harry and Hermione raises their eyebrows, Daphne had been quite horrified when she heard that there is a dragon egg in school. The change in her opinion is suspicious no matter how they see it but before they manage to interrupt, Tracey pokes them from the back and shakes her head to prevent them from doing so.

 

Deciding to trust on Daphne’s idea, both Hufflepuffs stays their lips, it seems like this is the time for a little more Slytherin approach to the problem at hand. Hagrid’s smile widen as he lowers his body slightly so that Daphne can see the creature in his arms, “Of course you can. Look here, isn’t he adorable?”

 

Daphne peeks at the small creature in the man’s cupped hands and smiles at it although inside the blonde feels her stomach tightens in fear. The last thing she wants it for the creature to burp and accidentally burn her face. Yet, the girl coos at the baby dragon before turning back to Hagrid, “It is a beautiful creature… though I’m a bit worried about its well-being.”

 

At the massive man’s questioning look, Daphne immediately search her brain for the little fact she know of about the beast before continuing, “I mean… dragon live in groups and known to have large appetite. We don’t have that much food to feed it… I’d hate for it to get be lonely because we don’t have any companion for it or starve because we can’t feed it enough.”

 

Hagrid this time seem thoughtful as he looks at the tiny reptile which by now already folds its wings and curls as it sleeps. Seeing that she is finally getting somewhere, Daphne immediately pushes her advantage, “I have a relative who works at a major dragon reserve in Romania. If you’d like, I can ask him to take this baby to the dragon reserve so that he can grow up properly and you will be able to visit him someday.”

 

Hagrid seem torn between the choices in front of him before finally puts the still sleeping baby dragon inside a basket lined with pillows before handing it to Daphne, “Yer right… Norbert would be happier with his folks.” The huge man grabs his tablecloth-sized handkerchief and wipes his tear-filled eyes as he continues, “Just… Please give your relative a note to take care of him, I… I want him to grow up strong and happy… I still am going to miss him terribly, though....”

 

Daphne nods her head silently, she might be a Slytherin but that by no means mean that she doesn’t have a heart, the sigh of this massive man in front of her in tears just claws at her conscience. It is obvious that Hagrid cares deeply about the baby dragon and she is basically deceives him to let it go even if it is for a good cause. She is still a Slytherin though and if there is one thing Slytherins are, they are VERY good actor.

 

The quartet takes their time to try and calm the man to the best of their ability. It takes them a few hours for them to convince that the emotional man is doing the right thing and that he is not a bad parent for giving away the little fire breathing reptile. Finally, they manage to calm the man enough to be coherent before finally excusing themselves.

 

As they walks back to the castle with the still sleeping baby dragon in the basket, Hermione looks at Daphne who is still holding the basket, “That… was quite devious, Daphne. Playing at Hagrid’s “Paternal” feeling was a great idea, it never even crossed my mind.”

 

The blonde Slytherin returns the comment with a weak smile though she shakes her head. Has it been anyone else, the blonde would have thought they are being sarcastic but this is Hermione and the blonde knows the brunette better than that, “Thank you, Hermione but I can’t help but think that it was a low blow. I played on his good-natured and trusting personality to get my way, it might be for a good cause but it doesn’t make it right.”

 

The Slytherin pauses for a moment before speaking as if she is scolding herself, “One thing that my parents taught me since I was a child was that the cause doesn’t justify the means or vice versa, both have to go at the same direction.”

 

This time its Hermione’s turn to feel guilty as she slows her pace to match the blonde’s and gives the Slytherin a hug, “I’m sorry, Daphne. I should not have said that….”

 

Daphne offers her friend a smile and a soft thank you before Tracey interjects between them, “That’s why it took a Slytherin to do it, you two Hufflepuff would have made terrible actor even if you try to.” The brown haired girl’s smile and mischievous wink immediately takes away the sting that would have accompanied that comment and returns the groups mood to joviality.

 

Harry finally steers the topic back to the next matter in hand, “Okay, so we got the cargo… but this time we’re not dealing with an egg. How do we get the baby dragon to stay silent until the time when we have to sneak it out of the castle? I mean… it might be a baby but a small roar can alert people about its presence.”

 

Hermione nods before replying, “We might be able to keep it asleep with a sleeping spell… though we’re talking about a dragon here although it’s still a baby and I heard they has great resistance to spell. It might take all of our power, including the twins, to keep it asleep for the length of time we need.”

 

Tracey shrugs her shoulder as she concludes the brief discussion, “Well, it’s the best idea we have for now… let’s find the twins first and we can think of something better.” The others nod at her suggestion and quicken their pace as they head back to the castle to search for the infamous duo.


	10. Chapter 10: The plan commence

Night time simply couldn’t come fast enough for the students with plans of their own, whether it is for those who will take the flying carriages to Hogsmead station before taking their train ride back to London to spend time with their family during the holiday season or for the particular students with plans to do something very questionable by law and rules of the school. The six individuals currently sitting around the table with a basket on top of it containing a baby dragon inside are firmly placed in the second category.

 

One of the oldest among them clears his throat before speaking, “Okay, the plan is clear. Fred and I have made a sleeping potion to feed the dragon, and it seems to work based of the previous results. We have also managed to get our hands on the patrol route for Mr. Filch, each of you will hold one of the copies.” The twins hand the first years their parchment with a crude map of the castle along with dotted lines showing the Hogwarts warden’s patrol route.

 

The first years nod their heads silently as they waits for them to finish, “Finally, our brother has mentioned in his latest reply this afternoon that he would be arriving by broom at around 11 PM. Today, luckily, is a new moon and therefore there should be plenty of darkness to cover you guys.”

 

The twins exchange glances with each other before delivering the sour note in their plan, “Unfortunately, neither of us will be able to help any more than this. Our brother, Percy, has been selected as prefect this year and he’s been keeping a close eye on us. He’s a real stickler to the rules and won’t hesitate to report us the moment he saw us out of the bed after curfew, we’d be too much of added risk to the plan. The moment we leave this room, you lot are on your own.”

 

Harry looks at the twins and decides to ask, “Umm… not to complain about the plan but… why can’t your brother just come to Hogwarts and pick up the dragon just like that? I mean… isn’t it much simpler than us having to sneak to astronomy tower and your brother coming by broom?”

 

The rest of the gang turn to look at him as if he has grown a second head, while next to him, Hermione rolls her eyes as she answers, “Harry… do you really want him to arrive at the school, in front of everyone around, and what would he give his reason for visiting, anyway? ‘Hello professor, I’m just here to pick up a baby dragon from a bunch of first years that they got from Hagrid.’? Really?” The male Hufflepuff has the grace to blush in embarrassment as he speaks again while sheepishly scratching the back of his head, “Right… silly question, sorry.”

 

The Slytherin duo at the other side of the table decide to go back to the main topic of discussion as Daphne speaks, “Me and Tracey will take the egg to the top of astronomy tower since it is at the same section of Hogwarts as Slytherin’s common room so if we are caught, then we can just tell the staff that we’re heading back to our common room. Harry and Hermione will act as backup in case we got caught…. The main problem is how you two are supposed to bring the baby dragon up the astronomy tower? I mean… I know that there is disillusion charm that supposedly able to make you turn invisible but… that’s an advanced charm magic, none of us has learnt it yet… except if Hermione has read that far in advance?” The brunette in question shakes her head as she replies, “No, I didn’t know about it until now. I read ahead… but not that far ahead.”

 

Instead, it is Harry who supplies the solution as he reach into his bag, “I… think I have a solution for that, but…. I need all of you to promise to keep this a secret. I’m serious; this is a family heirloom I’d hate to lose.” The rest of the members turn to each other before nodding at the same time, “You have our word.”

 

Harry turns to Hermione, as if looking for confirmation, and she nods silently before he pulls the item from inside his bag ,a glittering cloak folded neatly into a square, and puts it on the table next to the basket, “This… is our ace in the hole.” Daphne and Tracey look at the item in confusion, but the twins are another story entirely as one of them says in disbelief, “Is that… what I think it is?”

 

Hermione nods her head once as she answers, “Yes, this is a genuine invisibility cloak. Harry got it as Christmas present from someone who claimed that it used to belong to his father. We don’t know how valuable it is… but we do know it is an extremely rare item, which is why we ask that none of you speak about it to anyone outside this room.” The rest of the people around the table nod silently, they all know how much risk having such item at school can be. The item is something that a lot of people would literally kill to have; it is THAT rare and valuable.

 

As if to prove that it is genuine, Harry lifts the item and puts it around his body. Immediately his entire body turns invisible except for his still exposed head as he speaks, “‘Hermione and I will be sneaking under this, the cloak is obviously designed for an adult-sized person so both of us will be able to easily fit inside. We will be following Tracey and Daphne from behind, if we happen to meet a staff member, they will hopefully be able to slip us the egg and distract them long enough for us to pass without much trouble.”

 

Suddenly, Daphne raises her wand high above her head as the words flows out from her lips before anyone can stop her, “I swear on my magic that I will never tell the existence of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak without his express permission, so I speak, so mote it be.”

 

The rest of the table’s occupants turn toward the blonde girl with wide eyes and dropping jaws before the two Gryffindors in the room lets out a hearty laugh as they turns to each other, one of them speaks to the other with wide grin on his face, “Fred, we are a disgrace to Gryffindor. How can we let a Slytherin first year girl one-up us in the courage department not only once, but twice?!”

 

the other half of the twin replies with gusto, “Too true, brother. We can’t let this go unchallenged!” They both raise their wands together as they speak as one, “We swear upon our magic that we will never tell of the existence of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak without permission, so mote it be.” Once they put their wands back on their pocket, the last Slytherin rolls her eyes with blatantly faked exasperation expression as she raises her own and completes the headcount.

 

When Hermione reached for hers, Harry puts his hand over hers as he speaks, “No need, Hermione. I trust that you won’t tell this to anyone, let’s just stop here.” He takes off the cloak and hangs it on his arm as he turns to the others with misty eyes and his voice cracking slightly as he speaks, but the wide smile on his face tells his true feeling, “Thank you, all of you. I appreciate it, I really do.”

 

Harry is touched by the gesture from the bottom of his heart; having spent most of his life friendless has allowed him to truly appreciate the blatant gesture of true friendship before him. He knew he was asking a lot of them with his request but wizarding vows? Not just one either, he notice that none of them had any hesitation in giving them out of their own free will. What else can he ask for?

 

With the last thing of major concern addressed, everyone around the table turns to finishing the remaining minor things that might happen. Finally, the owl sound outside the window tells them that the night has gone late enough as the avian has started its hunting and they raise from their seat before heading towards the door. Before they exited the room, the twins turn to the first years with apologetic expressions as one of them speaks up, “Sorry that we can’t help any more than this, this time….” 

 

Their expressions brighten as the other half continues, “…but if you guys ever need our help in the future, don’t hesitate to ask. Yes, that also goes for you two Slytherins, both of you seem like quite cool people as far as we’re concerned, and that makes you good in our book.”

 

They finally grin widely as the other half finishes, “I still can’t believe none of you ended up in Gryffindor considering how much guts you guys must have to undertake this mission. Well, good luck.”

 

The twins gives each of the first years firm handshakes that all of them return heartily, before exiting the room, leaving the first years inside. The quartet turns to each other as Harry speaks, “Well… this is it….” The other three nods silently at the same time as the only male among them takes out the invisibility cloak and puts it around himself and his entire body vanishes from sight. He puts his arm out to grab Hermione’s before pulling her under the cloak with him before speaking toward the other two, “Okay we’re ready here, let’s proceed as planned.”

 

The two Slytherin girls opens the classroom door casually though careful to keep it open long enough for their hidden friends to walk out of it before closing it behind them. The basket containing the still sleeping baby dragon is held carefully on Tracey’s arm. The group of four walks carefully to not rouse suspicion, stopping at every intersection to check their map once in a while and make sure that Filch is nowhere in sight before continuing.

 

They manage to walk down several flight of stairs when suddenly they hears chuckling from the ceiling, “Kukukuku… what do I see with my little eyes, a couple first year students outside of their beds? Naughty naughty~”

 

They look up to the ceiling and are immediately greeted by the sight of a green-ish head wearing jester-like hat, grinning ear to ear. There is no doubt to the identity of the ghost as Daphne calls him out by name, “Peeves, we don’t have time to deal with you right now. Just go away!”

 

The apparation pulls himself out of the ceiling and floats in front of her still with his malicious grin, “And what would you do if I refuse young lady? You two Slytherins are obviously up to no good… What if I… say… scream for attention? Olalala~ that would be bad… bad indeed… for YOU!” He emphasizes the last word while pointing his finger toward Daphne and Tracey while still grinning maniacally.

 

The poltergeist continues to taunt Daphne and Tracey, while under his cloak, Harry turn to Hermione, “We need to get him out of the way… The longer he’s distracting us, the worse our situation will be…. Worse, he might even blow our mission entirely if he finds out what we’re going to do….”

 

Hermione nods once as she thinks for a moment, “I got an idea…” She takes out her wand and points it to Harry’s throat as she mutters, “Sonorus.” Harry’s throat glows briefly before Hermione continues, “This spell will amplify your voice temporarily… I think if you can try to make yourself sound a bit lower than your normal tone, you’d be able to impersonate the Bloody Baron’s voice. Try it to scare him off, Harry.”

 

Harry nods and swallows once as he tries to get his vocal chord in control before growling in low voice, the amplifying charm allows his voice to resonate along the hall, “Peeves!!”

 

The effect is nearly instantaneous as the poltergeist’s eyes widen and the grin on his face disappears to be replaced with a fearful expression. The poltergeist looks around him for any hint of the Slytherin house ghost but finds no sign of him. With Hermione’s approval, Harry decides to try once again and immediately the jester-looking ghost panics doubly as he turns to Daphne and Tracey as if he is going to say something more but decide to forego it as he flies away from them but not before knocking a suit of armor crashing down as he disappears through the wall.

 

Hermione cancels the amplifying charm on Harry before speaking in her normal tone so that her two Slytherin friends can hear her as well, “Come on, let’s hurry. The last thing we want is for Mr. Filch to find us because of that racket….”

 

The quartet make their way towards the astronomy tower; They are nearing the Slytherin common room, when they hear when they hear Ms. Norris’ voice from nearby. Their eyes widen as Daphne turns to her invisible friends, “This is bad… you two go, take the baby dragon with you. Tracey and I will see if we can stall him somewhat… if we pretend that we have just arrived here, he might not give us detention.”

 

Harry barely able to say, “But…” when he is interrupted by tracey as she holds out the basket and speaks hurriedly, “There is no time, Harry. Just GO!” Hermione’s arm reaches out from the invisibility cloak and grabs the offered item before pulling it back under the cloak. As if on cue, Filch’s voice comes from the hallway as he approaches, which signals to Harry and Hermione that they need to go. As they walk away, they hear Daphne and Tracey’s voices as they are talking with the school warden.

 

Harry and Hermione quickly find the astronomy tower entrance, and open the wooden door carefully so as to not make a sound, before slipping inside. They climb the spiral staircase, it seem like the stone steps have been enchanted to move not unlike a modern escalator although walking would still allow them to reach the top faster. Halfway to the top, Harry pulls the cloak from him and Hermione before letting it hang on his arm, “So far so good… I hope we’re not too late and the person supposed to take the baby dragon hasn’t already gone yet.”

 

The two first years soon reach the top floor and peek through the door in case someone is inside, luckily finding no one. They enter the room and Hermione closes the door behind them before locking it from inside while harry stands on his tip toes and looks through the high window for their contact, but no one is outside either. He turns to Hermione as he speaks, “Looks like we’re a bit early getting here, the twins’ brother isn’t here yet. How is the dragon’s condition?”

 

Hermione nods once before pulling off the fabric covering the small reptile, slightly, for a peek, “It’s still sleeping, guess the potion that the twins mixed with its food is potent enough for it.” She turns back to Harry before continuing, “Well, nothing else to do but wait now that we’re here….”

 

She walks toward the wall right under the window and sits there before putting the basket next to her, “I still can’t believe I didn’t think of that….” Harry raises his eyebrows as he joins her and sits at the other side of the basket, “What are you talking about?”

 

Hermione looks at him with a small smile, “Using a potion, I mean. Dragon skin are resistant to external magic influence… but their insides aren’t quite as resistant so potions work quite well for it. That must have been the strategy that dragon handlers would have used to deal with their dragons.”

 

Her eyes turn back to the front as she continues, “Makes sense really, I just can’t believe the twins had to point it out to us when we we’re looking for how to get the baby to behave.” Harry himself simply nodded in response, that solution had escaped him too before the twins gave the obvious and simpler option.

 

They chats with no specific topic in mind as they wait for their contact, every once in a while looking out the window. It’s barely 15 minutes before Harry looks out of the window and sees a few specks of shadow on the sky. He squint his eyes to get clearer view of the shadow before realizing that they are people riding on brooms heading toward their direction. He immediately turns to Hermione, “Hermione, I see some people riding brooms toward us. That must be our contact… we need a way to signal them that we’re here.”

 

Hermione stands up and peeks through the window beside Harry and immediately spots the people that her best friend is talking about, “You’re right… We need to signal them… Let’s see… I GOT IT!” The brunette draws her wand and raises it over her head as she calls out, “Lumos!”

 

The tip of her wand starts to glow brightly as she waves is back and forth while hopping, hoping to attract the attention of their contact. Next to her, Harry immediately copies her action.

Though their height barely allows them to have the glowing wands show up in the window. Fortunately, it seems like their contact has managed to spot them as they are heading straight toward their position. It doesn’t take long before the people on brooms reaches them before the person at the front, a man with neck-long red hair, speaks to them, ”Hey sorry we’re a bit late, My name is Charlie, Charlie Weasley. The twins have told me that you got your hands on a dragon egg, do you have the cargo?”

 

Harry looks at the man and nods before answering, “Actually… it’s a baby dragon, the egg just hatched today so… can you take it still?”

 

Charlie’s expression turns to shock for a moment, “A hatchling? That complicates things quite a bit… but hand it over, anyway. I’ll figure out something as we go….” Both first years nods as Harry picks up the basket and tries to hold it high enough for Charlie to reach.

 

Unfortunately, their height proves insufficient as Harry being just a little bit taller than Hermione means that she won’t be able to reach it either. The brunette peeks to talk with Charlie, “Can you lower yourself a little bit more? We can’t reach you at that height.”

 

Charlie looks at his escort who shakes his head before turning back to them, “No can do, we’re already risking detection by coming here by broom without notice and... Damn it, I can see a light approaching our position. We need to get that cargo now or we’d risk getting seen!”

 

Harry turn to Hermione in panic as he asks, “What do we do now?” The girl looks around them for something that they can use for support but finds none before suddenly an idea comes to her, “Lift me.”

 

Harry looks at her and raises his eyebrow as he replies, “What? What do you mean?” Hermione answers without hesitation “Lift me, Harry. You can support me from below and lift me up with the basket.” Harry look ready to protest but Hermione cuts him off before he manages to get a word in, “We don’t have time, Harry! Come on!”

 

She pushes Harry to get on one knee with his back against the wall and kicks her shoes off at the same time. Having no choice but to comply, Harry decides to help anyway as he positions his body for his best friend to climb on. With her best friend’s help, Hermione manages to reach the window by standing on the boy’s shoulder.

 

She turns back to Harry with on outstretched hand, “Okay Harry, I can reach my hand out of the window now... hand me the basket, quickly.”

 

Harry reaches for the basket next to him and immediately hands it to her. For a moment, Harry turns his face upward in order to hand Hermione the basket but he quickly lowers his head so that he is once again looking in front of him. If Hermione notices his strange behavior, she isn’t showing it as she managed to grab the basket by the handle and shove it out of the window for Charlie to grab.

 

Finally, the brunette jumps down from his shoulder back to the solid floor before letting out a relieved sigh as she smiles at her fellow ‘Puff, “We made it, Harry. Charlie has the baby dragon and currently making his way back to Hogsmead before floo-ing back to Romania.”

 

Harry simply nods in silence, not trusting his voice to work properly while his face feels like it is on fire though the darkness, fortunately, allows him to hide his blush from Hermione. Suddenly, a meowing sound can be heard from the other side of the door. Hermione’s eyes widen as she turns to Harry, “That must be Mrs. Norris. Harry, put on the cloak!” Harry looks at her dumbly for a while with no outward reaction to the girl’s words, prompting her to shake him by the shoulder, “Harry!”

 

Finally, Harry snaps out of his reverie as Hermione keeps shaking him as he speaks, “Oh, right… Sorry, Hermione. I was just… umm… distracted.” He pulls the cloak and spreads it over Hermione and himself just before the door opens revealing Argus Filch carrying a lantern with Mrs. Norris meowing as she guides him. The man turns to his cat and speaks with a dry sounding voice, “Are they here, my dearie? Are there naughty students out of their beds to do bad things in this room, hmm?”

 

Harry and Hermione carefully step towards the still ajar door as to not alert their “Hunters” before slipping pass it. They descend the spiral staircase as fast as possible without making noise, even continuing to wear the cloak until they reach the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. It is only after they are inside their empty house common room that Harry pulls the cloak off them, “That… was close… VERY close….”

 

Hermione nods at him and offers him a smile, “We succeed though… so… well done, Harry.” The black haired boy returns her praise with one of his own before finally letting out a big yawn, “Well… it’s late, I don’t know about you but I think I’ll just go to sleep now… night, Hermione.” The brunette giggles slightly before letting a yawn of her own, “That would be a great idea. Good night, Harry.”

 

Both first years’ head to their respective dorms for the night but despite their tiredness, sleep does not come easily to one of them. Harry is lying on his bed after a brief shower and changing his clothes but his eyes are still open. The boy cannot help but blush as he remembers what happened when he was supporting his best friend from below as she handed the baby dragon to Charlie. Now Harry can say with 100% certainty that Hermione wasn’t lying about following the current wizarding world fashion sense….

 

Afterall, it is rather hard to refute considering that when he looked up from his position to pass Hermione the basket, his eyes had seen the irrefutable proof by getting a complete eyeful of the girl’s bare crotch in plain view. For some reason, the image has been permanently imprinted in his mind and refuses to go away… thus the reason for his difficulty to get his much needed rest. It seem like tonight will be a very long night for one Harry Potter.


	11. Chapter 11: The Forbidden Forest

Harry let out a deep sigh as he walks through the dark woods of the forbidden forest with Draco Malfoy, who is constantly complaining about the cold and the dark and Hagrid, who is leading them. The cold winter wind causes him to shiver as he pulls his coat tighter around his body for warmth as he gains appreciation of the permanent warming charm on it.

 

Part of him wonders how the hell he ended up with the task of accompanying the massive man, though another part of him knows exactly how it happened. The black haired boy laments how his day has gone, to think that his morning had started pretty well too… yet one encounter with blonde peacock and the day went down the drain.

 

The Hufflepuff first year’s morning had started with unaccustomed silence due to him being the only male first year remaining at the dorm, the rest of the dorm members had gone back to their families the day before. The end of the Gregorian calendar of 1991 is approaching and the weather at the school located at Scottish Highland certainly reflected it with the biting chill in the air.

 

He walks toward the window and wipes the dew on it with his right hand while his other hand is still clutching his blanket draped over his back. As expected, due to the snow last night, the view beyond the glass shows white as far as his eyes can see.

 

For a moment he considers going back to sleep but finally decides against it. Instead, he starts his day with his usual routine before heading down to the common room. As expected, Hermione is already there and waiting for him while reading a book.

 

After greetings were exchanged, Harry still having a little problem with facing the girl due the accidental peek on the brunette’s girl part a few nights ago, they head for breakfast… and that’s when trouble rears its ugly head.

 

It starts with Harry enjoying his breakfast with Hermione next to him while reading the holiday-themed news in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet when they hear a voice across their table, “Potter.” Harry looks up from his breakfast and immediately suppresses a groan as he sees the so-called pureblood-prince that is Draco Malfoy along with this two “bodyguards”, “What do you want, Malfoy?”

 

The blonde throws a glance in Hermione’s direction who has also looks at him out of curiosity. Draco sneers at the brunette before he turns back to Harry, “Seems like Potter family sure has gone to the deep end into the dirty scale, not just one mudblood in the family but you just had to pick up another. If I had my say, neither of you should have been here.”

 

Harry turns to Hermione who returns it with equal look of confusion and shrugs before turning back to Malfoy, “What exactly is your point, Malfoy? I don’t know about you… but I personally think that if you’re the prime example of pureblood then I’d choose Hermione 10 times over.”

 

Draco scowls as he leans in further, “How dare you insinuate that this… Mudblood is superior to a pureblood. That claim cannot go unchallenged, Potter… I propose a wizards duel, 10 o’clock tonight at the astronomy tower. You can bring a second…” the blonde grins a moment as he continues, “…not that it would help you.”

 

Hermione rolls her eyes as she interjects, “You DO know that’s outside curfew, right? Why should Harry go out of his way to humor your petty challenge and potentially get into trouble with the school? What are you? Stupid?” Harry chuckles as he hears his best friend belittle the Malfoy heir. When the brunette puts it that way, it just drives home how laughable the blonde’s so-called proposal was.

 

Draco certainly didn’t find it as humorous as the Hufflepuffs in front of him do and it shows as he scowls deeper. His plan had been pretty simple and he had come up with it the moment he saw that the Hufflepuffs table had been empty except for his two targets; He thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get his revenge over the Longbottom incident where Potter humiliated him. He hadn’t been able to get his revenge earlier because the older Slytherins had warned him about the “Hufflepuff Loyalty” thing. Now that the other “duffers” were away, he should have been any easy target’

 

His plan had consisted of going over to the Hufflepuff table, making a few disparaging words about the mudblood, he had learned that insulting the mudblood seemed to work better to raise Potter’s temper than insulting him, and challenge him for a duel at night. He would tip Filch to find Potter, and hopefully Granger as well, out of bed after curfew and they would get in trouble while he will be in his bed and can’t really get into trouble since he will be going back home the next morning. It was the perfect plan in his mind… However, not only hadn’t potter risen to the bait but the mudblood dare to make a joke out of it.

 

That had been a step too far for him as his wounded pride takes control as he pulls his wand and before anyone can stop him, casts the first spell that comes to his mind, “Flippendo!” Hermione, not expecting that Draco would dare pull his wand in the middle of Great Hall, feels as if someone punched her on the chest and thrown off backward from her chair before hitting the floor painfully. Suddenly, there is only silence as everyone present has their eyes glued on the fallen brunette before Harry breaks into action.

 

He stands up from his seat and his fork falls with a clatter to the plate as he goes for his friend, “Hermione!” Soon, he is cradling the girl in his hands but she is obviously out cold due to the impact against the floor. He hears laughing behind him and turns to see Draco laughing at Hermione’s prone figure before suddenly all the “puff” can see is red.

 

With a roar of a wild beast, Harry jumps over the Hufflepuff table and tackles the blonde Slytherin to the floor before pummeling him with his fist as he continually says, “How dare you?!” over and over.

 

Its several minutes later that Harry feels another pair of hands trying to pull him off of Draco but he is undaunted as he fights the pull, all for the sake of exacting retribution. He is denied from continuing his abuse when he feels himself being forcefully lifted into the air by an invisible force followed by the sound of the Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress, “That is enough, Mr. Potter!! 50 Points from Hufflepuff and detention with me tonight for assaulting another student!”

 

As the Gryffindor head of house is holding him back with levitation spell, Harry sees Professor Flitwick is checking on Hermione’s condition before speaking out loud, “It is okay, she is unconscious but there is no major injury other than minor concussion. I’ll take her to the hospital ward.”

 

Harry is clearly thinking of following along but his situation prevents him from acting it. He is once again by the same person holding him airborne, “You will stay right here, Mr. Potter! We are not finished yet!”

 

After she says it, she turns toward Draco who is currently sporting bruises and bloody nose and lips from Harry’s punches, “20 Points from Slytherin for drawing your wand outside of class and 50 points for assaulting another student! You will also serve detention with me tonight, Mr. Malfoy. Now pick yourself up and see Madam Pompfrey at the Hospital ward!”

 

It was several hours later that Harry was let go by McGonnagal with ringing ears after her private lecture in her office regarding resorting to violence as well as the reminder of his detention. He visits Hermione at the hospital ward and rewarded with similar answer from the injured girl, “Look… I appreciate you trying to take revenge on my behalf but violence at school is and will always be severe rule breaking action, Harry. I wasn’t even badly injured…”

 

The brunette gives him a small smile as she continues, “…I dare to think that I might be injured less than what you gave Malfoy, and I’m the unconscious one.”

 

He was finally chased out of the hospital ward by Madam Pompfrey who insists that Hermione needs her rest. Since then, Harry had busied himself at the library until the time for his detention with McGonnagal. Though he isn’t quite surprised to see Malfoy, who is sporting some obvious bruises from his beating, in the woman’s office he isn’t thrilled at the idea of having to share detention with the blonde.

 

Before the woman manages to start assigning their detention task, a knock comes from the door. McGonnagal’s call of “Come in” sees Hagrid entering through the doorway with a memo in his hand, “I’m sorry to disturb you, Professor but Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to give you this memo.”

 

The woman knits her eyebrow slightly as she accepts the memo and reads it privately before turning to the two first years in her office, “It seems that you two are going to have detention with Mr. Hagrid here. Well, off you go.”

 

Harry snaps out of his reminiscence as Draco’s moaning of his situation finally penetrated his mind. Attempting to distract himself from giving the blonde a second round of beating, he asks the groundkeeper instead, “Hagrid… What are we doing here, exactly? And what is that crossbow for?”

 

The giant man turns to Harry as he answers, “Oh, I haven’t told ye? We will be patrolling this forest for tonight, there has been several animals found dead lately, primarily unicorn foals. This crossbow is just for safety, in case we meet the said creature who dares to do such a despicablething as killing a unicorn.”

 

Suddenly, Hagrid stops and hushes the other two with him, “Silence, you two. I think I hear something… walk quitely okay?” The man readies his crossbow as he lowers his stance like a hunter sneaking up on a prey… not that Harry personally thinks it will help with his size but he isn’t going to tell him that. Suddenly, there is a long beastly cry resounding through the woods and Hagrid immediately breaks into a run, “That’s a unicorn’s cry! Let’s go!”

 

Harry and Draco immediately try to follow but Hagrid is proof that size does matter when it comes to running as he easily outruns them and soon disappears from their sight. Left alone with only Draco for company, Harry decides to try calling for Hagrid but no answer comes which means that the man is beyond the distance his voice can reach. Behind him, Draco immediately complains, “That buffon! How dare he leave me behind in this godforsaken forest?! And- What was that?”

 

Harry turns to Draco who is pointing at a direction, “What is what?” The blonde speaks with a stutter, “There was a dark shadow there for a moment… It disappeared the moment I saw it.” Harry is just going to discard the blonde’s statement as nonsense when suddenly he feels a piercing pain from his scar. He rubs the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead to relieve the pain but feels no blood from it, ‘Weird… it’s never done that before’

 

Another beastly cry pierces the silence around the two first years, though this time the sound seems much closer than before. Before Harry manages to react, his blonde companion lets out a scream as he turns around and runs away into the darkness in panic. He looks at the direction where Draco has gone and sighs, ‘Great… there is no way I can find him in this dark place… hopefully he won’t get himself killed….’

 

Harry is considering his options to approach the direction of the animal cry from before or staying put in his location and hoping that Hagrid will find him. Neither seems to be a good idea but those are the only ones he can come up with at the moment. Finally, Harry draws his wand from his pocket before slowly approaching the direction of the sound. If he’s lucky then Hagrid will already be there and they can exit this forest together.

 

Careful so as to not make too much noise just in case whoever or whatever he is approaching is a hostile entity, Harry is soon able to make out the sound of someone eating… …least something close to it. Soon, he sees a figure in a dark cloak whom seems to be kneeling on the ground scooping with his hand what looks to be a clear and sticky liquid from the ground and putting it in his mouth. He notices that his scar feels like it is on fire with how much it hurts but thankfully not enough to incapacitate him.

 

The first year Hufflepuff hides behind a tree as he tries to get a clearer view of the figure but the fog is getting in his way. He is however, able to make out what the figure is eating… a corpse of a white colored, horse-like creature is in front of the figure with its stomach sliced open. The clear glue-like substance the figure is eating is apparently the creature’s blood.

 

Harry is prepared to step back and hopefully escape the notice of the cloaked person but unfortunately, he steps onto an exposed root and loses his balance. The moment he hits the ground, the cloaked figure turns to his direction and snarls threateningly as he seems to reach for his wand. An arrow suddenly shoots pass Harry’s shoulder and hits the tree behind the figure which causes the person to pause in his track. Two more arrows shoot at the figure forces the person to escape as he turns around and runs away into the forest.

 

Harry lets out a relieved sigh as he turns around, “Just in time Ha….” He nearly finishes Hagrid’s name when he notices that the person who saved him does not resemble the massive man at all. In fact, he doesn’t look human-like to begin with having a horse body from the torso down while the upper half is that of a man, Harry has been saved by a centaur.

 

The half-man half-beast creature slings his bow back to its shoulder before speaking, “You are not supposed to be here. Get out of the forest, it is not safe.” Harry nods at the creature before replying, “I have a companion who is missing in the forest and…“

 

This time the creature points to the figure draped on its back, “You mean this one? He ran into a tree and knocked himself out.” The Hufflepuff inspects the unconscious figure and indeed, the person is one Draco Malfoy, treated as if he is a sack of potatoes.

 

The creature turns his body and motions Harry to follow before walking at the pace that the first year barely manages to follow. Both of them emerge at the edge of the forest and sees Hagrid already waiting there as he greets them, “Firenze my friend, it seems that you have found my missing charges. Thank you.”

 

The centaur, now identified as Firenze, replies, “Why did you bring these two here, Hagrid? The forest at night is no place for them. You know well how creatures in the forest thinks of humans, do not temp them.” Hagrid moves to pick up Draco’s unconscious body from the centaur’s back before replying, “You’re overreacting, Firenze. They ended up safe and sound, didn’t they?”

 

Firenze narrows his eyes as he speaks again, “ONLY because I found them first, Hagrid. Two more unicorn foals died tonight, all the creatures are on high alert, anyone who enters the forest unprepared are more likely to die by them, than any other.”

 

Hagrid seems to be thinking something before finally replying, “You’re right. Very well, I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore about your concern.”

 

Hagrid turns to Harry, with Draco carried in one hand, “Well, why don’t we go back to the castle, Harry? I trust you can get to your common room by yourself while I give my report to Professor Dumbledore and deposit Mr. Malfoy here in the hospital wing.” Harry nods his head silently as he follows the massive man back to the castle. He notices that his scar is no longer hurting as they leave the forest.


	12. Chapter 12: Mirror Mirror

Chapter 12: Mirror Mirror

It is 7 AM in the morning of December 31st at the magical school of Hogwarts. The weather is clear with only a few cloud to be seen but the layers of snow outside the window, which allows little color to be seen other than white, means that it is still several degrees below the freezing point. Inside the Hufflepuff common room is a girl with bushy honey-brown hair sitting in her arguably favorite armchair near the fireplace with an open book on her lap.

After a while, Hermione finally sighed as she closes the book and places it on her side, not that it matters since she has already read that same book dozens of times that she is probably able to recite it word for word. Instead, she turns her eyes toward the “barrel” that leads to the boy’s dorm room for any sign of activity but finding none. She sighs once again as she ponders about one of the boys in particular, her best friend, Harry Potter.

Lately, Harry has been acting rather strange around her and that is putting it lightly. She knows that he is trying to hide it and thought that he would tell her sooner or later, which is why she never actually confronts him about it, but it has gone on for over a week and it is really starting to annoy her. The problem is that although it happens often enough by now for her to notice, the timing is too sporadic for her to deduce the reason other than it has something to do with her. Moreover, outside of those random bouts of strange actions, the interaction between them has remained the same.

With her other friends still out of the school enjoying their winter holiday, she doesn’t really have other people to talk about her problem. She is reluctant to bring it up to the professors as well since it has nothing to do with schoolwork and therefore would hate to bother them over it. The thought of confronting the boy straight on has crossed her mind several times, but she isn’t sure that it is a good idea.  
1\. I think ‘…talk to about her problem’ or ‘…discuss her problem with’ would sound better

She is finally distracted from her musing when the “barrel” opens and reveals the only other resident in Hufflepuff, Harry Potter. As usual, they exchange greetings before heading to the great hall for breakfast. With the great hall being mostly empty other than the staff members, neither first year has trouble finding seats and enjoying their breakfast.

As they eat, Harry breaks the silence between them as he speaks, “It seems that the other students will be back tomorrow” Hermione nods before replying, “Yeah, I can’t wait to see the others too, I heard that Daphne went to visit her relatives and she sounds like she is having a blast over there. Tracey went to Africa, I think… something about her dad taking the whole family for a trip. Susan and Hannah are spending time with their families… all of them said they’d be back after new year have you heard from Neville, Harry?”

The black-haired Puff swallows his bacon before answering, “His letter implies that he just mostly stays at home with his grandma, wouldn’t tell me much on what he does during the holiday but he seems like he’s doing fine. The twins were moaning that they have to help with… “de-gnoming” the lawn, not sure what that means but overall they seem to be having fun... oh and they mention that their brother, Charlie, wrote that they has manage to get Hagrid’s dragon to be accepted by a nursing mother and apparently it is actually a dragoness, it is a girl.”

Hermione raises her eyebrow as she looks at him, “Really? I wonder if Hagrid knew… probably not, “Norbert” is a male name after all… probably we should have renamed her “Norberta or something?” Harry lets out a snort of amusement before suddenly acting as if he remembers something; he blushes and avoids her eyes. 

The brunette knits her eyebrow together as she cannot help but notice the boy’s new habit but as soon as she notices it, it’s gone just as quickly as it appears as Harry speaks though still not looking at her in the eyes, “That… is kind of a fun idea. Maybe we can tell him about it later when we visit him.”

With little else to do during the holiday at Hogwarts other than doing their homework, which not even Hermione has the desire to spend most of their free time doing, and has taken to do them little by little over the course of the holiday, both ‘Puffs have taken to visit Hagrid in his hut nearly everyday even if it is just to chat and checking on him. Both of them genuinely like the massive man, behind his rough and wild appearance, nothing can be further from the truth to describe the man’s gentle heart and soul inside.

Thus, their plans for the day are mostly fixed as they finish up their breakfast and head to Hagrid’s hut. As usual, the man serves them his personal brew of tea and biscuits, the latter they both decline as per usual. As expected, Hagrid nearly sprays them with his own tea straight from his mouth when they told him that “Norbert” is actually a female dragon thinking that they have been joking . Once the shock passes, he lets out a hearty, full belly laugh at the newfound knowledge and comments, “Well, that explains the temper. I had thought that she was just hungry all the time, but if she were female then that explain things.”

At the first year Hufflepuffs’s enquiry, the man clears his throat before showing them that he is truly an expert in beasts as he informs them that dragons are matriarchal creatures. The females play more of a role than just producing eggs, they are the protector of the family while the male hunts for food. By the end of his long-winded explanation, Harry and Hermione both couldn’t help but think that Hagrid might have a knack for teaching after all. Both Hufflepuffs finally depart from Hagrid’s Hut as the clock nears lunch time, which they have back at the great hall.

After lunch, they decide that this might be a good time to finish what remains of their homework at the library before their friends arrive in the next few days. As they do their homework, Hermione notice that Harry seem to be occasionally distracted especially when their eyes accidentally meet, yet the boy keeps making up excuses that he needs her explanation about the question’s topic. Finally, Hermione cannot take it any longer as she puts her quill down and folds her arms in front of her chest, “Harry, will you tell me what’s going on?”

Harry looks up from his parchment to his best friend and asks back, “About what?” The brunette rolls her eyes as she replies, “Harry, you’ve been acting weird for the last few weeks around me. Do think I haven’t notice… see, you’re doing it again.” This time Harry swallows once before speaking again, “Do what, Hermione? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The brunette is undeterred, she has come too far to back down that easily, “You’ve been avoiding looking at me in the eyes when we talk, Harry. Just what did I do wrong?”

Harry sees that Hermione is determined to get the bottom of this and feels cold sweat on his back. How the hell do you tell your best friend that you have a memory of her bare crotch that refuses to go away? For Merlin’s sake, he dares to even say that the memory has been responsible for his recent… morning trouble. He can see it in the brunette’s eyes that she won’t be letting him off easily this time and decides that this might be a good time for a more Slytherin approach.

The so called boy-who-lived scratches the back of his head and sighs as he fakes resignation before speaking, “You noticed huh… Well… I’ve just realize that… well… remember Christmas? I know you gave me a chocolate frog and it was one of my first Christmas present… it got me thinking that… well… I never gave you any Christmas present myself and wondered if you noticed so… I kind of… want to make it up to you, but I have no idea how.” 

Hermione raises her eyebrows in response as she replies, “Christmas present? That’s it? Harry, I don’t even CARE about that. This year has been one of my best school years EVER thanks to you, it is already more than anything anyone ever gave me in my whole life. THAT and now that I know that you weren’t exactly knowledgeable about Christmas tradition, I don’t mind missing one present.”

Harry shakes his head as he replies back with rueful smile, “That isn’t the point, Hermione. I heard that giving a present can be a reward of its own and… I never had anyone to give Christmas presents to. My… “family” never give me enough money to get one and even if they do, they won’t appreciate one from me. But you, you’re my best friend and I didn’t give you anything, it just feels… wrong now that I know about it.”

Hermione looks at her best friend with raised eyebrows, something told her that the boy in front of her is still hiding the real reason... but his expression also shows that this has also been something that has been on his mind for a while. She cannot help but think that it sounds just like him to care about those kinds of things that most people take for granted. Finally she gives him a small smile as she speaks again, “Well, if it makes you feel better, you can give me TWO presents next year. Just think that you owe me for this year’s, okay? Now, how is your transfiguration report going…?”

The two Hufflepuffs continue their study session until they are informed by Madam Pince that it is time for the library to close for the day as the time approaches dinner time. As per their usual daily schedule, both went for dinner before going for their small “adventure”. They both hve taken to drawing a rough map of the school using spare parchments with notes on it that tell which room is used for which. So far, nothing they have found is out of ordinary as far as a castle that has been turned into a school goes.  
Today though, it seems that the school has decided to have a mind of its own, as when the two reached the temporary landing between first and second floor, the stair in front of them suddenly spins before connecting to another set of stairs to create a long stair that leads to the third floor instead of the second. Hermione turns to Harry as she speaks, “That’s… unusual…. “Hogwarts: A History”mentioned that the stairs have been enchanted not to change while someone is climbing it….” 

Harry nods silently as he remembers that passage in the book as well before speaking again, “What do we do now? We can’t go back down either until the stair moves again.” As if to emphasize his point, he pointed to the flight of stairs that they had climbed to reach the landing which had reconfigured itself, leaving them stranded on the platform.

Both of them look at the other end of the staircase and sigh at the same time as Hermione speaks again, “That’s the third floor corridor… we’re not supposed to be there but… It doesn’t look like we have a choice….” Harry nods before answering, “Yeah… well, if we’re lucky the stairs might reconfigure once again after we reach there and we can head to another place without getting into trouble….”

Due to the extended length of the staircase and the fact that unlike the astronomy tower stairs, they haven’t been enchanted to act like an escalator, it took them a while to reach their destination and they were huffing and puffing when they did

However, their ordeal apparently isn’t over yet as the moment they step off the stairs, it separates itself from the landing and turns to another direction. With a shocked, “No!” the two first years try to catch it, but they prove to be just a tad too slow as the stairs soon are out of reach for either of them.

Hermione begins to panic as she turns to Harry, “Oh no, what do we do now? Dumbledore warned us not to be here… What if there is something dangerous here?” Harry scratches the back of his head as he answers, “I… I don’t know, Hermione but panicking will get us nowhere. Look, let’s just look around first, we might find another staircase to get down.” He sees the brunette nod several times and lets her take a few deep calming breaths before leading her down the corridor.

As they walk down the deserted floor, both cannot help but think that there seems to be nothing out of ordinary as far as they can find. Sure, they don’t really try to open any of the doors around them as their only concern right now is to get away before someone finds them where they aren’t supposed to be. That changes when they find themselves standing in front of a huge double-door not unlike the one used for the great hall.

Harry turns to the brunette next to him as he asks, “Am I the only one thinking that this is unusual?” Hermione nods as she answers, “No, you’re not… You think maybe whatever is inside was the reason for the headmaster’s warning?” Harry shrugs as he turns back to the door and presses his ear against it much to his best friend’s confusion, “What are you doing, Harry? We need to get out of here.” 

The boy pulls back from the door as he answers, “Ah, well… I was just wondering what might be inside. I can hear sound inside but I can’t make out whom or what it is… wait….” Harry puts his ears back to the door and his eyes widen as he grabs Hermione by the hand and pulls her as he runs back down the corridor, “Someone was inside and by the sound of it, they are coming out. We need to go before they find us here.”

Both first years run back to the stairs only to find that it was still disconnected from their location. They begin to panic when Harry turns to the doors lining the corridor and speaks to Hermione, “Check doors! it’s our best bet!” The girl nods as they start checking the doors one by one only to find them locked. Their desperation peaks as the sound of footsteps approaches, seemingly closer than they actually are due to the sound reverberating off the walls.

Harry looks at the far side of the corridor and notices a shadow of a person coming towards their direction when he suddenly hears Hermione calling for him, “Harry, over here! This one isn’t locked! Hurry!” Without wasting another second, both first years dive through the door before closing it hurriedly behind them just as the sound of the steps approaches… and passes them as the person heads toward the stairs, which causes both 11 years olds sigh in relief.

Harry looks at Hermione and wipes the cold sweat off his eyebrow, “Do you think they are gone?” The brunette nods silently, still too nervous to talk after their rather close call. Both of them take several deep breaths to calm themselves before they finally take a real look at the room they are in. Harry immediately comments, “Wow… this place looks like it has been used as a warehouse for a long time… just look at how many things are here, I can’t even tell what most them are used for…”

Hermione takes a look around them and has to agree with her best friend’s deduction, though a glint of light among the items immediately catches her attention. Curiosity soon wins out as she starts to traverse through the mountain of items until she catches sight of the item that is reflecting the light from the window above them. Harry soon catches up to her and asks, “What is it, Hermione? Did you find something?”

The brunette points at the item in front of her as she speaks, “That… what is a full length mirror doing in the middle of this junk?” Harry follows the direction of the girl’s finger and sure enough, in the middle of what looks to be a cleared up space is a full body mirror with an ornate wooden frame. He tilts his head slightly in confusion as he approaches it, “That’s… curious indeed. This space looks like it has recently been cleared just to place that mirror there… Wonder what’s so special about it….”

The boy approaches the item and looks at the frame closely, noticing the inscription on the old wood, “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi?(1) What kind of gibberish is this?” Suddenly he hears his best friend gasps behind him and turns to look at the girl who is covering her mouth as she has her eyes glued to the mirror. 

He approaches the brunette and asks with concern, “What is it Herm…?” The 11 year old boy never finishes his question as he too looks in the mirror and figures out what caused the girl’s reaction. Looking back from inside the mirror is himself.., but the “him” inside the mirror isn’t alone… There is of course Hermione standing next to him and both of them are wearing their school robes just like their real counterparts, but there are other people who are reflected in the mirror who aren’t supposed to be… there are two adults bracketing him and his best friend, a beautiful woman with bright red hair with emerald green eyes on the left side and a man with black unruly hair wearing thick black rimmed glasses over his brown eyes on the right side. 

Unconsciously, Harry speaks in disbelief, “Mom…? Dad…?” Just as he speaks the two words, the adults in the mirror smile gently at him. Suddenly, he understands the inscription on the frame as if a switch has been clicked in his mind, “Of course… it was written backward as if someone is writing from the other side of the mirror… let’s see… I believe it said, ‘I show not you face but your heart’s desire’…”

Now that he knows, Harry cannot help but wonder what Hermione is seeing in the mirror but there is no way of knowing except if she tells him herself. He knows from his reading that there is a spell to look through a person’s mind and his “Uncle Severus” had proven that it was real but advised him against learning it… at least not yet, as it takes considerable skill and magic power to do and carries with it a great risk. Still, Harry knew better than to ask, to know someone’s heart desire is equal to asking their innermost secret and it isn’t something that anyone has the right to know outside of him or herself.

Finally, Harry shakes Hermione on the shoulder as he calls out to her, “Hermione, come on. We need to get out of here before someone else comes.” The shaking seems to manage to catch the brunette’s attention as she turns to him as if she has been trapped in a trance, “Huh… what… oh, right… yes, you’re right… let’s go.”

They goes back to the door of the room and opens it slightly to check if there are anyone around before they hurriedly exit and head straight to the stairs. Fortunately, whoever it was that passed them was able to bring the stairs back to their location… and allow them to descend back to the second floor. Neither of them seems to be in any mood for further exploration for the day as they head straight to their own dormitory. Unknown to each other, neither seems to be able to get whatever they saw in the mirror out of their head and the memory prevents them from going to sleep easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review Responses:
> 
> Bronze: Thanks for Reviewing. I plan to go into MORE indepth than Jo did in her own books so you can expect the questions and mysteries to be answered (Well... as much as I can at least....)


	13. Interlude 1: The mysterious case of Harry Potter

Interlude 1: The mysterious case of Harry Potter

 

* * *

 

_Hufflepuff Common Room_

A week had passed since New Year and Hogwarts soon went back to its normal activity. The students still sharing some of their holiday tales, but it was clear that most of the holiday excitement had passed. The students of Hufflepuff house weren’t much different as they spent time inside their common room doing their everyday things, some were chatting, several of them were playing games, and others were catching up on their forgotten homework and so on.

 

Hermione Granger was no exception as she sat on one of the bigger armchairs next to the fireplace with a huge book grasped in front of her. That in itself was NOT a strange view. The brunette was a self and publicly proclaimed bookworm and she was darn proud of it, hence why no one was so much as giving her a second look.

 

For once, however, the 12 years old wasn’t able to concentrate on the book in front of her, something else was occupying her mind and refusing to let go. The words on the paper that would normally be imprinted on her brain the moment she read them had simply passed through with little, if any, that stayed.

 

For the umpteenth times, she released a sigh as she peeked over her book toward the source of her problem. The person that had occupied her mind was currently sitting on the center couch with Justin and Ernie as they played cards on the coffee table. The black haired boy that was also her best friend seemed to be in normal condition to untrained eyes, but Hermione had been around him long enough to know that he wasn’t.

 

It was several days ago that she noticed something wrong with her best friend. While he had been acting somewhat unusual since before the holiday, lately there seemed to be something terribly wrong with him. He would sigh and looked absent-minded as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his back, sometimes he would repeatedly yawn as if he had been lacking sleep, and most importantly his eyes would cloud over at times as if he was remembering something sorrowful.

 

She had tried asking him about his problem and offered to listen, probably even find a solution to it. However, the boy had refused and tried to convince her that he was fine although she knew otherwise. If there was one thing that Hermione Granger obsessed over above all else, it was unanswered questions and mysteries… and currently, the mystery of Harry Potter was really starting to get to her nerves. The girl silently swore that she would figure out what was eating into her best friend even if he would scorn her for it.

 

_Potion Classroom_

 

Holiday excitement had also passed from the mind of the Hogwarts resident potion master and professor that was Severus Snape. The man was sitting inside his adjoined office with a bottle filled with a familiar amber colored drink along with two glasses next to it, although only one of them contain the liquid.

 

The man spun the liquid inside the glass several times yet made no move to consume it, he knew he would need a clear mind for what was to come. Soon enough, a knock on his door signaled that someone was outside and asking for permission to enter. “enter” said snape, and the knob on the wooden door turned and it opened to admit Professor McGonagall inside.

 

Officially, both Hogwarts houses were embroiled in decades or even centuries  long rivalry and both heads of house barely tolerate each other’s presence. In reality, at least the latter half, couldn’t be further from the truth as made apparent by the woman making her way straight toward the table and sat on the chair across her counterpart. She patiently waited as Snape took the bottle and poured the woman a drink in the empty glass before pushing it toward her.

 

Finally, Snape sat back down on his chair before Minerva McGonagall asked him, if Severus saw fit to call her for a private word, there were only one topic possible between them,  “What’s wrong, Severus? Did something happen to Harry?”

 

The man in question leaned back on his chair before answering, “Yes… and no, Minerva.” He looked at the woman’s expression and immediately spotted the sign of worry on her beautiful visage, worry for the one student that both of them saw as family. That in itself caused a small smile to appear on his own.

 

Severus sipped his own drink to calm himself slightly before continuing, “Nothing dangerous, Minerva. I assure you that but there was… a little problem.” The woman that was Minerva McGonagall was publicly known as a formidable and a very strict woman with near perpetual edge on her look but like the man before her, nothing was as it seemed while she was in private.

 

Snape allowed the woman some calming breath before continuing once again, “As you no doubt already notice, Harry seems rather… distracted and distraught lately, the same could also be said about Ms. Granger thus I was of the mind that it might be related to both of them.”

 

McGonagall nodded silently, as her colleague said, she had notice the change in the attitude of her godson and his best friend. She too had notice that while they showed sign of coping with their issue once they were back with their missing friend, Harry seemed to be having a harder time than the girl in moving on. Wondering if Severus had managed to find any clue regarding the issue, she patiently waited for the man to continue.

 

Severus took a deep breath before speaking once again, “As you probably knew, I gave Harry detention today in my class. Today, he was so distracted that he actually messed up his potion without any external stimuli… well, long story short, I used the opportunity to ask him what was bothering him.”

 

The man let out a sigh before continuing, “I had to force him slightly to get him to confess… and a minor legiliment. Once I did, I couldn’t fault him for being so shaken… I would too and I was seeing it second-hand.” The man raised his eyes to meet the woman’s straight as he spoke, “He saw them, Minerva… He found and looked into the Mirror of Erised… and saw James and Lily as if they were alive.”

 

This time, Minerva McGonagall couldn’t hide her surprise as she let out a gasp, “But… how… how did Harry find the mirror? Unless… Severus, please tell me he didn’t go to the third floor corridor.”

 

Snape nodded his head once as he answered, “He did, Minerva. He told me it was an accident… but the problem lies deeper than that….”

 

The man paused for a moment before speaking morosely, “You know what his vision means, Minerva… Mirror of Erised showed your deepest desire, the one thing you want more than anything else…. He missed them, Minerva… more than we both realized he would."

 

Minerva McGonagall was a bright and age wizened woman despite her look. Moreover, she had lost family members during the two wizarding wars. She understood the feeling of loss from losing family members, better than the man in front of her. However, something about what her colleague told her disturbed her.

 

In order for one to feel the loss of something… they needed to have memory of possessing it in the first place. In Harry’s case, he needed to have memory of his parents in order to feel that loss. Sure, she knew that Hagrid had given the boy a memory album of them… but none of those photos had been taken after Harry’s birth.

 

Afterall, with the madman Voldemort aiming specifically for the baby, James and Lily had gone into hiding during the middle of the latter’s pregnancy. With risk of being found anytime, of course there would be little to no time for them to take leisure time like posing for a carefree picture.

 

Suddenly, a shudder went through the woman’s body as she realized the true horror of the revelation. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked at Snape, her fingers gripped the arms of her seat so tight that they turned white from the pressure.

 

The man obviously had been waiting for the older woman to reach the same conclusion as he nodded at her with expression of deep sorrow as he confirmed her thought, “Yes, Minerva… he remembered them… and he remembered how they lose their life right in front of him even in his tender age of barely over 1 years old. He remembered EVERYTHING.”

 

This time the Minerva McGonagall soundly gasped at the potion master’s word. The man’s emphasis on the word “Everything” wasn’t an accident and the implication of it had the woman finally reaching for the bottle of Firewhiskey.

 

Her shaking hand nearly caused her to spill the liquid but after a gulp of the beverage, she managed to calm herself enough to put it back on the table safely. That didn’t mean that she was calmed however, far from it in fact as she asked her colleague, “Everything?” Severus Snape answered, “Yes, Minerva... Everything.”

 

* * *

 

Review Reponses:

#### HoosierPotter: You will have to wait and see. Thanks for the support

####  [AriadneVenegas](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneVenegas/pseuds/AriadneVenegas): I agree about the Hufflepuff trait. Thanks for the support

####  [Sanjis_Creative_Caravan_HPLoverunite](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanjis_Creative_Caravan_HPLoverunite/pseuds/Sanjis_Creative_Caravan_HPLoverunite): Thanks

####  [Cateagle](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Cateagle/pseuds/Cateagle), lovelywelshbloke: The mystery will be answered soon. Well, I can say that Harry isn't quite jonesing yet. He's still 11, afterall.


	14. Chapter 13: Bad Doggy

Chapter 13: Bad Doggy

 

The date has passed new year but the winter of Scottish highland still in full blow complete with minus degrees wind but inside the walls of Hogwarts, it was totally a different scene compared to the outside. While there was enough coldness in the air which left no doubt that it was no other season than winter, the biting chilliness was largely absent much thanks to the ward protecting it. Therefore, nearly everyone in the castle was able to sleep in comfort under their thick blanket. However, like any other case, exceptions existed and in this case, the said exception is one Harry Potter.

 

Like the others he was sharing the dorm with, he was lying on his bed with a thick blanket around him but that was where the similarity ended. Unlike his dormmates, the recently turned 12 years old was completely awake as proven by his open eyes. He had tossed and turn the whole night as he tried to get some much needed sleep but so far, his mind prove much too uncooperative in the endeavor.

 

Finally, he sighed as he reached for his glasses that he had left on the small table next to his bed as he mutters, “This is useless… I just can’t fall asleep….” before raising his upper half body. He took a glance out of the window which showed complete darkness which mean that it was still much in the middle of the night, an impression strengthened by a glance to the other direction which showed his dormmates’ sleeping figures. Gingerly pushing his feet out of the warmth of his blanket, he put on the slippers on the floor next to his bed before pushing his body up.

 

He tiptoed pass the other beds toward the dorm door, grabbing his invisible cloak just in case, before slowly pulling it open. The wooden door let out a soft creak as it swung open little by little but it seemed soft enough not to wake anyone. Once the opening space was wide enough, Harry quickly slipped through it before pulling it close. Like the inside of the dorm, the tunnel connecting the dorm to the common room was dark but it didn’t stop the boy as he walked to the other side.

 

It didn’t take long for him to reach the door leading to the Hufflepuff common room as he pushed it gently to allow enough space to peek through it. Unlike the other places in the castle, the dorm room was perpetually bright regardless the time of the day due to the possibility of students being there at any time of the day whether doing homework, studying for test, unable to sleep or anything else, really. After glancing around from his limited field of view but seeing no movement, he unfurled the invisible cloak and draped it around him before he pushed the barrier out completely and climbed out of it.

 

Another, more thorough, look around him showed that the common room was empty and Harry let out a relieved sigh before making his way across the room. Suddenly, just as he was about to push the door leading out of the common room, a familiar voice from behind him stopped him right on his track, “Harry James Potter, Where do you think you’re going at this time of the night?!”

 

Harry winced inwardly at the unmistakable authoritative tone as he slowly turned his head around until his eyes found his best friend, one Hermione granger, in front of the female dorm entry. The girl glared at him with her lips contorted into a scowl and her fists on both side of her hips.

 

Since he was wearing his invisible cloak, Harry quickly deduced that rather than looking at him, she most likely were just staring at his general direction. However, for all her pissed look, Harry couldn’t help but found her standing there in her baby blue pajama with tiny yellow duck prints on them look rather comical.

 

Another harking of, “Harry?!” finally got the boy to focus once more on the topic asked, especially since Hermione had started to tap her right feet and crossed her arms in front of her chest impatiently and he knew that she won’t let him off easy. Deciding that he wouldn’t be able to escape anyway, Harry pulled the cloak off his body as he tried to make an excuse on the fly. “I was thirsty…”

 

He never got the chance to finish before Hermione shot it down while pointing toward the table on the side, “The water jug is over there and there was also Pumpkin juice jug next to it.”

 

Harry winced as he tried another one, “I need to go to the bathroom…”

 

Again, Hermione shot it down before he managed to finish, “There’s one connected to the dorm.”

 

Harry quickly added, “It has been malfunctioning…”

 

Hermione however wasn’t about to let him go that easily as she added to her own argument, “… and there’s also another one connected to this room and it certainly was in useable condition since I knew people entered it before.”

 

Finally Harry sighed as he tried one last excuse out of desperation, “Would you believe me if I said that I sleep-walked?”

 

Hermione’s eyes narrowed as she approached him until she was right in front of him and stared into his eyes, “while I admit that one was your best one so far… I don’t buy it. You’re hiding something from me Harry and I’ll bet that this… night trip of yours has something to do with it.”

 

Harry took half a step back, clearly intimidated by the brunette before finally releasing a sigh of resignation, “Ok… fine… you’re right… but I have to say I’m a bit unclear on how it relates to you? Last I check, it is fine for me to have secrets, right?”

 

Harry inwardly cursed himself as he saw Hermione reeled back, her expression turn to a mix of shock and hurt. Though he felt bad for putting in such a crass way, he didn’t take it back, partly due to pride but mostly because he didn’t want her to pry. Hermione for her part lowered her head for a moment and for a moment; Harry was hoping that she finally would back off.

 

Unfortunately, he soon realized that he had underestimated Hermione Granger as she raised her eyes once more and the look behind it was fiercer than ever as she speaks, “Unrelated to me? Unrelated to ME? How dare you?! You listen and listen well, Potter. When my best friend is moping around and depressed for WEEKS and he refuse to tell me then you better bet that it is related to me!”

 

Her expression soften as she continued, “Look, I may not know the problem you’re facing or if I can help you with it but you do NOT have to do this alone, Harry. Can’t you let me try to help just a little bit of your problem?”

 

Silence passed between the two for a few minutes before finally Harry raised his arms in surrender as he answered, “Okay... fine… you win, Hermione. I’m sorry for worrying you but… well… look, I just have a lot on my mind and…” He motioned toward the door leading outside before continuing, “I know we’re breaking curfew but… well… it’s easier to show you than trying to explain it to you…. will you come with me?”

 

Hermione chewed her lower lip as she considered that they were essentially breaking the rule but finally nodded much to Harry’s relief. Both of them quickly exited the common room into the dark castle hallway. Both tweens couldn’t help but notice that although it was better than outside, inside the common room was still much warmer than outside which caused them to shiver at the chill hanging in the air.

 

Harry unfurled his invisibility cloak once again and draped it around him before offering Hermione to join him inside. They easily fit inside and Hermione let Harry led her to where he was heading when Harry suddenly asked her, “By the way, how did you know I was there? I had the cloak on and all yet you looked straight at me when you called out to me.”

 

Hermione smirked under the darkness as she pointed to his shoes, “Easy, you might be invisible but last I check you can’t fly without a broom. All I had to do was just scatter some flour between the dorm entrances to the exit. When you walked on it, your steps are visible until you stopped in front of the exit, that’s how I figured it out.”

 

Harry raised his eyebrows in wonder, he certainly didn’t expect such a simple trap would be in place but something was still missing about how he got found out and immediately asked again, “How did you know I would be going at this time though or even tonight? Even you prepared a trap to find out, you can’t possibly catch me that easily.”

 

This time, Hermione had the grace to look sheepish as she answered, “Mostly luck, actually. This was the first time I set the trap and you happen to sneak out tonight. While waiting, I was hiding behind the barrier with a cup of coffee to keep me awake. Let me tell you now that I don’t want to taste another sip of that thing… I don’t know how my parents can drink it everyday, that thing was so bitter….”

 

Harry turned to her with his jaw hanging before asking again, “Then… what if I decided not to sneak out tonight? Please don’t tell me you plan on staying awake in the tunnel until morning. You’d get frostbite by the time someone finds you.”

 

Hermione blushed as she replied, “Well… it was my plan of action actually… though I had to admit that had you appeared another hour later, I wasn’t sure that I’d still be there. I probably would have decided to give up and headed to bed by then.”

 

Harry stared at his best friend with complete dumbfounded look before finally smiled as he shook his head, “Tell me again why you’re in Hufflepuff? Last I check, Gryffindors are the reckless ones….”

 

Hermione rolled her eyes and smirked as she replied back, “So says the guy who risked getting detention or worse, expelled by breaking curfew.” Both puffs let out a small laugh at each other as they made their way through the school corridors.

 

After series of turns and stairs, Hermione gradually figured out their destination and her expression turned more and more serious the closer they got to it. Sure enough, as she suspected, Harry led her to the stair leading from second floor to the third floor. She turned to Harry with a hiss, “Please don’t tell me we’re going up there again, Harry. That section of the school if forbidden and if the Headmaster’s warning was to be believed, getting detention will be the least of our worries.”

 

Harry turned at her before answering, “Yes, we are….” His tone was both a mix of sadness and joy that Hermione couldn’t help but notice. Without stopping, Harry climbed the stair while Hermione though reluctant decided to follow anyway.

 

Suddenly, she remembered what there the last time they were up there, “The mirror… Harry… you’ve been coming here to look into the mirror, didn’t you? But… why…?”

 

Harry didn’t answer until they finally reached outside of the room where the mirror was before turning around to face her, “Hermione… tell me, did you remember the inscription on the mirror’s frame?” Hermione turned silent as she tried to remember the first time she saw it before answering that she didn’t even notice it.

 

Harry nodded once as he elaborated, “The inscription was written around the mirror, it was written backward and oddly space but I figured out the words, it says ‘I show not you face but your heart’s desire’…” He pushed the wooden door and let it swung open before continuing, “…It means that what we see inside the mirror are things that we wish the most.”

 

Hermione mutters a long “Ahh” in understanding before whispering in a voice so low that Harry could barely hear her, “I see… so that’s why… it makes sense, I guess….”

 

Gently Harry pulled her into the room before closing the door behind them and taking off the invisible cloak from both of them. He approached the mirror and pulled the cloth covering it off before stepping back once again to join Hermione, “You see… this mirror… showed me my parents as they were alive, with us. You’re next to me, my mother is next to you… and my father is behind me and I have to say, I do look like younger version of him….”

 

Harry paused for a moment as he kept staring at the image in the mirror. Besides him, Hermione turned away from the mirror as she was trying not to let it distract her as she looked at Harry. Currently, the boy was practically telling her about his deepest secret and dream and it would be rude of her not to give it her undivided attention.

 

A tear trickle down from Harry’s eye as he continued, “I miss them, Hermione… I miss them so terribly bad. I wanted them to be alive and well, standing with us right here and now… I wanted to be able to let them meet you so I can introduce you to them… but I can’t… I know it was impossible and what I saw in there was nothing but illusion but… I wish… I just wish… that it was real….”

 

Tears fell from Hermione’s eyes too as she reached out to her best friend and pulled him into a hug, offering what little comfort it would be able to give as she whispered, “It’s… I’m sorry, Harry. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re feeling but... I’m here… I know that I won’t ever be able to take your parents’ place but I’m here for you….”

 

Harry tentatively returned the hug as he whispered, “Thank you, Hermione… Thank you so much….”

 

For a while, the two was just content with hugging each other before Hermione finally pulled away as she spoke, “You told me your deepest desire… I think it is fair for you to know mine….”

 

This time, Hermione turned to look at the mirror before speaking, “What I saw in the mirror… is Professor McGonagall giving me my diploma at the Great Hall, seem like it is our graduation… She told me that I scored the highest mark in the entire history of the school… everyone in the room are smiling and clapping their hands, cheering my accomplishment… even my parents are there….”

 

She paused for a moment before continuing, her eyes never leaving mirror, “You see… I didn’t have the best of childhood before Hogwarts either. Before coming to Hogwarts, I didn’t exactly have much friend if any at all of people around my age to get along with, the opposite in fact. Both my parents are dentists, VERY good ones at that, and though I know that they both love me but being busy nearly all the time, I spend most of my time either at school or alone at home. I wasn’t, still isn’t, a very confident kid and not many wanted to hang out with a bookworm. At first, I thought that if I was a good girl and performed well at school, they would change their mind but… all it actually did was alienate me further or even bullied me for it.”

 

She took a deep breath before continuing, “When I got my Hogwarts letter followed by a visit by Professor McGonagall, I was ecstatic. I thought that now that I know why I was so different from the others and there was place for kids like me, I would be able to make some friend… but even that lasted only until I got to platform 9¾. I noticed that I was alone on the platform and tried to introduce myself to one of the kids there and they immediately told me to get away from them followed by the term “mudblood”. I didn’t know what that word means but I could guess from their reaction and look that it certainly wasn’t a favorable thing.”

 

The brunette smiled as she looked into the mirror as she spoke, “Seem like it’s a dance party now… I always loved Disney films, you know… and I would imagine myself to be an ugly duckling or Belle, waiting for the prince to sweep me away to happiness… and that was exactly what I was seeing. I… well… my imaginary older version, at least, is now twirling around the dance floor with… someone, I can’t recognize him. Everyone else in the room was looking at her with smiles as they clap for her… My parents are among them… even my grandma who had passed away a few years ago.”

 

Finally, Hermione closed her eyes for a moment before turning back to Harry, “It was a beautiful dream… but it is an illusion nonetheless… at least for now. However, we live in reality and that is where we need to put our attention to….”

 

Silence fell between them for what felt much longer than mere minutes before a sudden creaking sound behind them brought them back to reality. The two first years turned toward the source of the sound and saw that the door had swung open slightly, most likely because of the wind. Hermione turned toward Harry as she spoke again, “Come on, we need to go back to the dorm before someone realized that we’re not there or worse, a staff member finding us here.”

 

They picked up the cloth lying on the floor and carefully draped it over the mirror, once again covering its surface from view, before going for the door. Harry unfurled his invisibility cloak before covering him and Hermione with it as they opened the door slowly. Once out of the door, they made their way back down the corridor until they reached where the stair leading back to second floor was… or it supposed to be.

 

Unfortunately for them, they found that the stair was missing from where they last saw it. They looked around to find the missing stair before Harry pointed to their right, “There it is… it must have moved when we were in the room… we need to find a way to get over there… but I don’t see a path from here that leads there… and….”

 

Harry never finished his sentence as suddenly the stair moved once again, heading to their direction which caused him to let out a relieved breath. However, Hermione tapped his shoulder as she pointed toward the bottom of stair, “Harry, someone is there… he’s pointing his wand toward the stair… he must have called it to move so that he could climb it here… we need to get out of here….”

 

Cursing under his breath, Harry nodded once before following Hermione back into the corridor. They once again stopped in front of the room where the mirror was as they wished to hide there and waited for the person to pass. Unfortunately, another problem immediately rubbished their plan as Harry tried to pull the door open… only to find that it wouldn’t budge, “Crap… it won’t open… we might have accidentally locked it when we exit it… what do we do, Hermione?”

 

Hermione’s eyes widen as she heard the telltale sign of the stair had fixed its position and she knew the person would be upon them soon. Worse, in the corridor, there was little chance that the person wouldn’t accidentally bump into them even if they stayed where they were with the invisibility cloak on. Suddenly, she felt her arm being pulled causing her to turn toward Harry who spoke to her hurriedly, “We need to run… staying here will just make our situation worse. Maybe there was another place to hide at the other end… we need to make for it. Hurry.”

 

Hermione nod at Harry’s suggestion, they didn’t exactly have any option left and whoever was coming would be upon them anytime now. Thus both first years made their way further into the corridor as fast yet stealthy as they possibly could. However, their hope was once again betrayed as they soon found themselves in front of a double door. Harry pulled on the handle but once again, the door refused to so much as budge before he turned to Hermione, “Great… now what… we’re trapped.”

 

Hermione chewed on her lower lip as she tried to come up with a way out of their situation before her eyes suddenly widen as she reached into her pajama pocket and pulled out her wand. She moved Harry slightly out of the way from the door, ignoring his questioning look, before pointing her wand to the door, “Please… let this work… Allohomora.”

 

A brief flash escaped from the wand into the door’s keyhole before a click could be heard from inside the door. The brunette let out a relieved sigh as she put the wand once again in her pajama pocket before pulling the door open, this time the door moved outward. She motioned Harry to slip into the slight opening which he immediately complied before following behind him and closed the door back behind her.

 

Once she was inside, Hermione took a deep breath before whispering as if she’s trying to recite one of her book, “Allohomora… spell to undo basic lock and chain. Thank God it worked….”

 

Suddenly, she felt her arm being grabbed in a vice-like grip and turned to Harry for explanation. However, Harry was looking toward the other end of the room with his eyes and mouth wide open. Hermione shook her arm as she tried to loosen the grip, it was really starting to hurt, but it proved too strong. Finally, she tried to open her mouth to complain but Harry’s hand immediately covered her mouth, preventing her from making any sound.

 

After a while, Harry slowly turned to her before shaking his head side to side as he released her arm before placing his index finger in front of his lips, the universal sign not to make as sound. Hermione knit her eyebrows together as she looked back at him, clearly wasn’t amused. In response, Harry tilted his head to the side, wordlessly telling her to look.

 

Seeing that Harry seemed to be panicking about something, Hermione felt a foreboding feeling as she turned to look where Harry was telling her to. Suddenly, Hermione was immensely glad that Harry had covered her mouth as a soundless scream escaped her throat, “A-……………!!!”

 

Lying at the far corner of the room was a creature, easily 4 or 5 meters tall even lying down, black fur covered its body that seem to ripple like fire and most importantly, three heads that lied side by side. The beast had its eyes closed, seemingly asleep though the rumbling of its growl told them that it was very much alive and would no doubt attack them at first sign of their presence.

 

Hermione felt her arm being shaken by Harry and turned back to him once more. The boy was pointing toward the door with his thumb, sign that he was telling her that they need to get out. Hermione in response mouthed out, “Professor!” but Harry motioned toward the beast once again as if saying, “Better than THAT!” and Hermione found herself unable to fault him with that reasoning. Finally, Hermione nodded her head as she agreed with him.

 

Slowly, Harry placed his hand on the door handle before turning it as quite as he possibly could. The handle turned according to the pressure he placed on it, barely even a squeak escaped from it until he felt slight resistance from it. Taking extra care of his hand, Harry pressed further as he felt the mechanism inside the door moved.

 

Unfortunately, despite his greatest effort, some things simply couldn’t be helped. Once the handle was fully turned, a click that signaled that the hatch inside the mechanism had been unlocked escaped from it. Worse, inside the empty and silent room, the slight noise resounded within… with disastrous result.

 

Hermione who was still keeping an eye on the beast at the corner of the room was the first one to saw it. A pair of tiny glistening orbs appeared in the darkness followed by another pair as it rose higher before yet another pair joined the first two. All three sets of the beast’s eyes locked unto the two first years as they growled at the same time, the rumbling that sounded like it came from the deepest pit of hell itself shook the air.

 

Instinctively, Harry slowly turned around behind him to look at the creature just in time to see that the creature was crouching. Experience with his aunt’s dog told him that the creature was readying itself to attack. A pair of screams escaped both him and Hermione as he pulled the door open while grabbing Hermione’s wrist at the same time as he pulled her through the opening as fast as he possibly could.

 

The moment they stepped through the opening, both first years immediately turned and pushed the door close with all their might. Just in time it seemed as not even a second later, an extremely loud “bang” from the other end of the door threw them to their back followed by sound of scratchings though the door firmly prevented the creature from reaching them.

 

The sound finally stopped after a while before both puffs slowly picked themselves up from the floor, their eyes never leaving the door until they were sure that the creature wasn’t coming out. Finally, they released a long breath they weren’t aware had been holding. Suddenly, an adult voice came from behind them, “Well now that you’re calm, would you two like to tell me what have you two been doing here?”

 

Harry and Hermione turned at the same time and immediately found Headmaster Dumbledore right behind them. The man stared at them through his half-moon glasses with reproaching eyes as he spoke again, “Well?”

 

Both first years fidgeted as they tried to answer before Hermione found her wit first as she answered, “We’re sorry professor, we were having late night studying lesson and we were thinking of looking for the kitchen to get some snacks and….”

 

A small smile appeared on the headmaster’s lips as he stared at her with twinkle in his eyes, “Come now, Miss Granger… surely you can come up with better excuse than that?” He then turned his attention to Harry, still with the same twinkling eyes and smile as he spoke, “Or would you like to give it try, Mr. Potter?”

 

Both puffs had the grace to blush at the headmaster’s teasing as they decided not to say anything less they dug themselves deeper. Dumbledore moved his gaze from them toward the door holding back the Cerberus as he spoke, “Curiosity is a virtue of the young but disregarding a warning made for your own sake is not wise, my young Hufflepuffs.”

 

Harry and Hermione nodded silently, they knew that the headmaster had them pegged and nothing they say would help their situation one iota. Finally, the man smiled with mirth as he continued, “Well then, since this is your first offenses and considering that you two are unharmed… I believe that 20 points from Hufflepuff for each of you for breaking the curfew is reasonable and another 50 points each for disregarding the rule. Now….”

 

The headmaster pointed his wand toward the direction of the stair at the other end of the corridor for a few minutes before putting it under his sleeve before turning back to both of them, “You two know how to get back to your dorm with no more night crawling, I believe? There is still a while until class starts in the morning so I recommend you two getting a few hours of sleep, at least.”

 

Both first years nodded they walked pass the headmaster toward the stair at the other end of the corridor. As he passed the professor, Dumbledore spoke again, “… Oh and… Harry, a piece of advice if I may… A dream may be beautiful to look at and imagine… but it does not do… to dwell on dreams and forget to live, please remember that[1].” Harry stopped walking for a moment as he turned back toward the man and gave him a brief nod before he continued.

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[1] Line taken from Harry Potter and The Philosopher Stone by JK Rowling

 

Author Note: Well... First, to those who are looking forward to this chapter, let me apologise for the long wait. Life has been a dowright mean bitch and I didn't have the time to write as much as I would like to... I'd REALLY love to be able to promise that next chapter will come much faster... but I can't.

Now, as some of you readers may notice this chapter has much more gramatical and/or spelling error than my previous ones but unfortunately my BETA has disappeared. I tried contacting him but he didn't reply so I figure I need to find a new one. For those interested, leave your email in the review and I'll contact you.

I have to warn you though, like I said above, my update schedule will be sporadic at best, it may be next week or next month or even several months later but when I give my chapter I want it done in a week or two unless you can give me a reason why you can't.

Review responses:

Cateagle: It will happen, its Hermione we're talking about afterall... but I'm not telling when ;)  
JDOG: Thanks for the support. However, I'm afraid my updates will remain as it currently is: Sporadic. Writing is a hobby for me and it will stay that way. Real Life will always be my first concern and to be honest, its being a right bitch right now and until the foreseeable future.


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